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, the Facebook spokeswoman said.

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.

It's important for Facebook to engage in this type of outreach and guidance because while people consider privacy important and they worry about misuse of their information, they don't always devote the necessary time to educate themselves about this topic, IDC's Dangson said.

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.