Social networking site Facebook has announced the release of an improved Beta version of Publisher, the feature that lets you share links, photos, videos, notes with other Facebook users. The development team at Facebook has worked to streamline the new Publisher, but this was not the main focus of the team’s attention – the most significant change to Publisher refers to the new Publisher Privacy. Thanks to Publisher Privacy you get to choose who you want to share stuff with, you get to choose who will get to hear what you have to say.

“You may have some posts you want to share with a wide audience, such as whom you voted for or how great the weather is today. Other times you may have more personal updates like your new phone number or an invitation to join you at your favorite restaurant for dinner that are meant for only close or nearby friends,” explains the official Facebook blog.

For those of you that have access to the new Beta version of Publisher, here is what you need to know. After you compose a new status message, or after you upload an image or video via Publisher, click the lock icon in the right-hand corner. This will give you access to a drop-down menu that let’s you select who will have access to the content you want to publish in your stream.

The drop-down menu provides the following options:
Everyone: any Facebook user can see the content you published online.
Friends: only those Facebook users that you’ve identified as being your friends can see the content.
Friends and Networks: Facebook users that you’ve identified as being your friends, and people from your networks can see the content.
Friends of Friends: Facebook users that are friends with the people you’ve identified as being your friends can see the content.
Custom: specify who gets to see the content you published in your stream.