Facebook privacy controls, IM on the way

Facebook will roll out new privacy features and instant messaging the company said in a press briefing Tuesday.

According to News.com's Dan Farber and Caroline McCarthy Facebook will roll out these features tonight or Wednesday morning.

Among the two features:

• Facebook will enable members to choose how much of their profiles are visible to friends in a "friend of friends" option. This feature is way overdue given the mix of professional and personal friends on your Facebook profile. For instance, I probably don't want PR people seeing me pounding beers.
• More disruptive may be Facebook's instant messaging service, dubbed Facebook Chat. IM is a nice addition to Facebook and will give folks an excuse to stay on the site longer. It'll be interesting to see how Facebook Chat impacts current IM clients out there. Facebook IM will be launched in about two weeks.