Updates improve Facebook and Twitter connections

Facebook members will soon be able to pipe their profile directly to a connected Twitter account.

The social networking giant said it was working on the feature in a document sent to developers about upcoming changes.

Before now linking to Twitter was only possible from Facebook pages which are meant for bands, public figures and businesses.

Facebook said linking was coming "soon" but gave no specific date.

The mention of the forthcoming connection to Twitter came as Facebook unveiled its "subscription" system which works in a similar fashion to Twitter's "follower" feature.

Those who subscribe to a Facebook page, and eventually a profile, will automatically be informed when its owner publishes what they flag as a public update.

The feature changes the dynamic of Facebook which before now has been about sharing updates with those a user deems to be their "friends". By subscribing, Facebook members will be able to see the public activities of almost any of its 600 million users.

Many suspect the feature that links profiles to Twitter will be formally unveiled at Facebook's F8 developers conference which starts on 22 September.

The move is widely seen as a response to a change made by Twitter. In early September, Twitter made it easier to send Tweets directly to a Facebook account.

Prior to the changes, many Twitter and Facebook users relied on stand alone applications or add-ons to link the two.

Both the changes are also seen as responses to the success of the Google + social network which makes it easier to send updates to other places.