Facebook testing tool to push updates onto Twitter

Facebook and its social networking compatriot Twitter are jointly taking new steps to help users share information.

Facebook, the top social networking site, this week began testing a new feature that's designed to enable posts on its network to be automatically published on Twitter, Malorie Lucich, a Facebook spokeswoman, confirmed today. She did not disclse when the feature is likely to be officially launched.

Reports have circulated on the Internet that the feature might be released this week, but Lucich wouldn't confirm those reports.

This new move to help users share information comes just a week after Facebook disclosed that it had revamped the social network's privacy settings. That move has moved some users and privacy advocates to criticize Facebook. The critics contended that the changes would push more user data onto the Internet and, in some cases, make it harder for Facebook users to protect their privacy.

The new Facebook settings consolidate some privacy options and group them in a single interface. As it stands now, Facebook users can establish a privacy setting for every item they post on the site, using a drop-down menu.