In response to the positive reviews of the Google+ “Circles” feature and to integrate a little bit of “Twitter-ness”, Facebook is offering its 750 million-plus users some new options.
The first is being called “Smart Lists.” With Smart Lists, all Facebook users will be offered lists of what Facebook interprets as their work, school, family and city connections. These Smart Lists will be updated automatically but users can edit them as well. Users can publish posts to specific lists and filter their news feed to see only certain list-members’ posts.
Facebook is also giving users the option to manually create three lists that address different levels of relationships; functionality very similar to Google+ Circles. These lists include “Close Friends” – where you see everything they post, as well as receive notifications for new posts; “Acquaintances” – where you only see the most important things they post; and “Restricted” – where they only see your public posts.
The other, Twitter-like, option being rolled out is a “Subscribe” button. Very simply, users can choose to put this button on their profile and once in place, any visitor can choose to subscribe to that person’s public posts (by clicking button).
