Facebook pays homage to Google+

Facebook is about to go live with a bucket-load of improvements in a move that brings many of Google+'s most-loved circle-based privacy options to Facebook. It includes enhanced sharing options, privacy changes and...

Place check-ins on Facebook have also changed from a smartphone-only activity to all-encompassing location tags that can be added to posts, photos, or updates.

Facebook intends to give users more control over photos and posts they are tagged in too.

"You can choose to use the new tool to approve or reject any photo or post you are tagged in before it's visible to anyone else on your profile," explained Chris Cox.

Since the arrival of social networking newcomer Google+, both Facebook and Twitter appear to be ramping up their feature list in an effort to retain users and increase the amount of information their users share within the social networks.

Earlier in the week microblogging social network Twitter launched new photo sharing and user gallery features.

Hubspot, however, believes the increasing rivalry between these social networks has much more to do with user information and search share than it does with social media sharing or user numbers.

Facebook users should start to notice this latest set of changes in the coming days.

"When they reach you, you'll see a prompt for a tour that walks you through these new features from your homepage," said Facebook.

While you wait for the changes to arrive you can check out the full list of Facebook settings and privacy controls that have been moved inline by visiting http://www.facebook.com/about/details/. Facebook has posted a series of videos about the changes on its YouTube page.