Timeline: Welcome to Your Past

When Facebook launches Timeline in the coming weeks, folks will either be horrified at what friends can see or laugh with hilarity at some of their past Facebook activity. It’s a swell idea, but how is it actually gonna play out? I guess we’ll see, as rumor mill has it that Timeline could be released October 19th.

The idea is brilliant, a literal timeline of events since you joined Facebook will highlight important events that have happened to you if you chose to share them. Births, new haircuts, trips, relationship status changes, it’ll all be there. But what about the embarassing stuff? Forgot to remove that drunken status update from that one night in Summer 2008? Remember that picture you took with your ex and just never bothered to untag yourself? It could be there. In theory, it would be great if it was a Timeline of famous people like Obama, or say my own father (ok, so he’s not famous, but I’d love to see him whoop ass in track and field in college). And obviously, yes, we’re all eager to see the histories of some of our friends, but are we getting “too” personal?

There has definitely been some privacy issues with Facebook in the past. Even Zuckerberg has had to apologize on occasion. But let’s be honest, people can be like sheep sometimes, and if everyone else is doing it, it can’t be that bad, right? I’m not sure. For some, who rarely use Facebook, or are very selective about what they post, it shouldn’t be a dilemma (or very exciting for that matter). But in the day and age of reality drama, the most exciting Timelines will be the ones that cause the most OMG moments. I can just imagine a girl seeing photos of her boyfriend with his ex and quipping, “I thought you said she was just a friend….” Here we go…

Todd Wasserman’s article sums it up best:
About 56% of Facebbook users who are aware of changes to the social network dislike them, according to a new poll.

A telephone survey of 2,000 people conducted by USA Today and Gallup found that 26% of people who use the site daily are “very concerned” about privacy vs. 35% who use it once a week. Those figures are significant in light of Facebook’s new Timeline feature, which gives users the opportunity to share their histories on the site and gives Facebook more targeted information for advertisers. Facebook’s schedule to roll out Timeline is unclear.

Facebook’s changes, however, are apparent to daily users, but not as much to the general public. Only 34% of the people surveyed were aware of the changes, although 87% of daily users were. Of users who were aware of the changes, 56% didn’t like them; 36% liked them. Those figures track closely to Mashable‘s poll of 3,200 users on Sept. 30. In that poll, about 59% of users said they couldn’t be bothered to fill in their Timelines.

The survey shows that although Facebook may be a ubiquitous part of millions of people’s lives, for many it’s still merely a curiosity.

Outside of the negative aspects, Timeline shows a lot of promise. It will be great to see where you’ve been compared to where you are now. Part of a successful business plan, lifestyle change, or even personal training program is to see where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you’d like to go. Timeline is just an easier way to see the big picture of your social media life. It’s extremely seductive, and Facebook is banking on that. They definitely want you to go back and fill in the pre-Facebook information as well. This is where you have to stop and think. Do I really want my whole life on the net for the world to see? And since Facebook won’t let you “delete” a profile, only “Deactivate”, what’s really going on over there? All the information about folks is really power, and that power can be dangerous. Yes, it could be good, and just used for folks like us that want to improve our advertising efforts, but just what if…

Get ready world. This is your life, and it’s going to be exposed, one mouse click at a time.
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