"That's another impact Google+ can have in the world: raising the bar on what the expectations and standards around privacy should be, so that's a great outcome," Horowitz added.

Industry analyst Greg Sterling from Sterling Market Intelligence said that while Google+ may have been part of the motivation for the changes, Facebook has heard similar criticism over the years from other sources, including its own users.

Whatever the reason, Facebook is hitting all the right notes with the tweaks. "What they are doing is very good: making all the privacy controls more explicit and available on a more granular basis," Sterling said.

These privacy controls have been "kind of hidden" in the Settings section, and so have not been used as much or as wisely as they should be, he said. "These changes are overdue, welcome and very positive for users," Sterling said.

It will be interesting to see what impact these changes have on Google+, which is still in a limited, invitation-only beta period, he said. The Circles content-sharing feature has been considered one of Google+'s best weapons against Facebook, Sterling said.