Facebook has garnered a reputation for hopelessly complicated privacy settings, and now, a decade into its existence, the company’s turning to a cute blue dinosaur to educate its users. It’s called Privacy Checkup, and all users will see it over the coming weeks. It takes just a minute or two to complete, and it runs you through the basics: who can see your posts, which apps have access to your account, and who can view your profile information. And, of course, you get to do it all with a charming little dino by your side.
The top gripe about Facebook is that people don’t know who they’re sharing with, so in the coming days Facebook will push everyone through a multi-step privacy checkup that reminds who they share statuses with, what apps they’ve given permissions, and what’s visible on their profile. A cutesy blue dinosaur will lead people through the process which was originally tested in March but is now getting shown to everyone. Some users will undoubtedly find the procedure annoying, even if its well-intentioned and they need it. They’ll be able to skip it but will get prompted again later. For now the tool is only on the web, which means a huge chunk of users won’t see it until a mobile version is developed later. If Facebook can get users to endure the little chore while making them more confident about who they share with, they might be willing to post more frequently and wider range of content to the social network.