BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Facebook plans to simplify the way in which it offers privacy options to give users more control over the information they share, media reported Thursday.

    In a blog post on Wednesday, chief privacy officer Chris Kelly said Facebook is in the process of streamlining its privacy settings over the next few weeks.

    To make the settings easier, Facebook is consolidating all of its existing six privacy pages and more than 30 settings onto a single privacy page. It will also standardize the options for each setting so the choices are always the same, something that hasn't always been the case.

    Right now, Facebook privacy controls are too scattered across multiple settings pages and they lack uniformity, creating confusion among members, Kelly said during a press conference.

    "It's too complex at this point," Kelly said.

    Privacy has been a central, and often thorny issue for Facebook because so many people use it to share personal information with their friends and family and beyond.

    Facebook hasn't managed that issue very well in recent years as efforts to monetize the free service have led to privacy oversights.

    Its Beacon social advertising scheme, for example, created considerable controversy in 2007 for violating user privacy. The uproar eventually prompted an apology from CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a shift to an opt-in system.

    (Agencies)