Facebook has been taking steps to give members more options to share their profile content more widely in recent months, including the start last week of a test for a new version of its Publisher, the tool that members can use to post notes, status updates, links, photos, videos and other content on their profile "wall" and share them with their friends.

This new Publisher version, now in limited beta, lets members determine the privacy settings of each individual post they make, and includes the option for members to share whatever they post with "Everyone" on the Internet, on or off Facebook.

In March, Facebook started giving members the option to share all or some parts of their profile with everyone on Facebook; previously, people could only do that with hand-picked "friends" or members of the same geographical, school or employer networks.

Another change announced previously but discussed more in depth on Wednesday is Facebook's decision to do away with regional networks, in which people could opt to share their profile with anyone in their same geographic network.

This option has been traditionally confusing, which is why about half of Facebook's members have opted not to belong to a regional network, said Leah Pearlman, a Facebook product manager.

Some regional networks are too large, such as the case where people only have the option to sign up for the country they live in, and don't necessarily represent a group with a common bond for sharing, like schools or work networks do, she said.

"We're removing them entirely," Pearlman said.

These changes will be implemented in the coming days, a Facebook spokeswoman said via e-mail after the press conference.

During this process, Facebook will present members with what it calls "transition tools," in which it explains the changes and makes suggestions for how people might want to configure their settings.

Facebook officials on Wednesday acknowledged that the company will nudge members towards making more of their profiles open, as opposed to only visible to friends. Privacy settings that members have set will carry over as they are right now.

These changes don't affect how Facebook shares member information with advertisers, which will continue to only happen when users give Facebook permission to do so, officials said.