If you’re one of the 350 million Facebook users out there, you may already be aware that the social networking Web site is in the process of updating its privacy settings. In the past, Facebook has made changes such as the ones it is now without telling anyone; this time, the company’s giving us a heads-up and trying to walk us through the process. I’m sure not everyone will be satisfied with it, but there probably will be fewer complaints.

Maybe.

Anyhow, the change, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told us about a few days ago, is supposed to go into effect today. Ruchi Sanghvi described what to expect in a blog post earlier today. Here are some things to note:

• The privacy center will help you control your privacy settings. Sanghvi said the new system should make more sense and be easier to manage than the previous version.
• In the future, you’ll be able to change the settings for each post to manage who sees what.
• After the privacy changes go through, you’ll go through a three-step process when you walk in, and the very first of those steps explains everything in detail.
• Sanghvi said that the changes won’t change how Facebook behaves with regard to its advertisers; according to the site’s policies, it doesn’t share personally identifiable information with them unless you give the OK.

As always, I expect the changes to break something else that people like about Facebook. I hear people complain about it a lot, but when you’ve got 350 million people using your site, there’s no way any change will please all of them.

In theory, I like the changes, but have yet to see them in practice. I’ll make a more firm judgment once I’ve had the opportunity to try it for myself.

For more on social networking and other related topics, take a look at these HowStuffWorks.com articles:

How Online Social Networks Work
Top 10 Things You Should Not Share on Social Networks
What happens to all my social networking information when I die?