Facebook and Twitter, two of the most popular social media sites on the face of this planet, have rolled out privacy changes that will allow Facebook users to be included in public searches on the website, and Twitter users to receive DMs from people they do not follow.

The Facebook feature discussed is "Who can look up your Timeline by name," an old setting that allows users to prevent their profiles from coming up on searches. This means from here on, anyone can find you on Facebook by your user name.  

Apparently, only a small percentage of Facebook users use the option, Facebook chief privacy officer Michael Richter revealed in an online statement on the website. The social media site hinted on changing said privacy settings in December 2012.

"Today, people can also search Facebook using Graph Search (for example, "People who live in Seattle,") making it even more important to control the privacy of the things you share rather than how people get to your Timeline," Richter said.

"The setting also made Facebook's search feature feel broken at times. For example, people told us that they found it confusing when they tried looking for someone who they knew personally and couldn't find them in search results, or when two people were in a Facebook Group and then couldn't find each other through search."

Richter notes that users can still manage the content they post on their account by tweaking individual posting and activity settings. "Or ask friends and others to remove anything they may have shared about you that you don't want on the site," he said.

Twitter, meanwhile, have also rolled out a new feature that will allow users to receive DMs (direct messages) from anyone, regardless if they follow them or not, and vice versa. According to an ABC News report, users can simply tick on the option to receive DMs from anyone on their account settings page.

Seth Fiegerman of Mashable.com notes however that some users on Twitter are no strangers to the said feature.

"A source familiar with the situation tells Mashable that the option to receive direct messages from users who don't follow you has been available to select verified users since late 2011. It's unclear whether the option has rolled out to more users since then," he said in his article.

"Twitter appears to be rethinking a longtime restriction that required users to follow each other before sending direct messages," he said.

Verified users consist of celebrities and company accounts. Marketing blogger Jim Connolly said "brands and businesses" will benefit greatly from the update. "People complain all the time about bad customer service experiences over Twitter," Connolly said in an ABC News interview. "Now, those grievances can be dealt with privately from the business end."