I’ve always been a big fan of Facebook, believing that, in the end, its utility and magic would trump the downside. I believe that kids and adults alike will learn to rein in their most dangerous behaviors, and protect themselves online as well as off.

But I’ve always been vocal in saying that I thought most kids didn’t realize what they were doing half the time they were on Facebook. They had no idea of what a relational database did and no idea about who would see what as they joined various groups and forged online friendship networks.

As Facebook grew, its early users went on to graduate to other walks of life. Now, with 19 million users in over 47,000 geographic, work-related, college, and high school segments, it was time for Facebook to help people better understand what was going on. The redesign makes it easier to understand the ramifications of what happens as you join groups, exchange photos, and converse. To its credit, Facebook invited its members to weigh in on the changes and 100,000 users shared their comments before the new design was rolled out.

Case in Point

With the old design, you were often blissfully unaware of how many people could view whatever you were doing. Here’s my story.

The Old Design: I’m Facebook friends with my young niece. She was posting pictures to her friends. I thought the pics were a bit over the top, so I gave her Mom the heads up. My niece blamed me for “spying” on her. I had to remind her that when she posts pictures for one friend in her group, unless she specifies otherwise, I get notified on my Facebook via my Newsfeed.

The New Design: With the new Facebook you receive more notification about where you are and what you’re doing. You are notified when activity on a network is hidden from you because you’re not a member. You can systematically browse groups by region, high school, college, or workplace. Links you view change in context, depending on whether you’re viewing your profile or someone else’s.

According to Facebook’s blog, the changes were meant to make navigation and messaging easier, not to keep people safer. But I’m convinced that when things are easier, transparent, and understood, there’s bound to be less incident.