Facebook has altered the default status settings for new users to increase privacy confidence, Digital Spy said.

Since 2009, statuses and photos posted on the social network were automatically set to 'public', but new members will now have their posts set to 'friends only' by default.

"We recognise that it is much worse for someone to accidentally share with everyone when they actually meant to share just with friends, compared with the reverse," Facebook said.

Although privacy settings are obvious to most existing Facebook users, the new approach is designed to ease confidence of new members still learning the ropes.

First time posters will receive a pop-up reminder to choose their preferred audience, but 'friends only' will remain the default if they decide to ignore it.

Additionally, Facebook is rolling out a new and expanded privacy checkup tool to existing users, to make sure they have an adequate level of privacy settings in place to suit them.

The move is the latest in a number of privacy strategies introduced by the social network, including a new anonymous app login option.