After a series of unexpected, frustrating (or exciting, depending on who you ask) changes of the Facebook layout this week, Mark Zuckerberg revealed at the f/8 conference of a new Facebook feature called Timeline. A redesigned version of the current profile, Timeline will show you everything you’ve done on the site since the beginning until now. It will be a real-time sharing experience showing you everything your friends are watching, doing, reading etc. even on outside sites.
Right now, I’m already put off by the constant and unnecessary information I’m seeing from my various Facebook friends whether it’s comments they have made on other people’s posts, events they have attended, people they have befriended or photos they’ve uploaded. Every website allows you to connect with Facebook and share your activity as well, but I believe there is a delicate balance between accessibility and overload. Facebook is a great time waster and stalking opportunity, but we don’t want it to be forced upon us. Facebook is trying to take our relationships to a completely different level and many people (me included) aren’t so ready for it.
So far, only some people have been able to preview what the Timeline looks like by being “developers” in a sort of Google+ beta testing mode. In a few weeks, everyone should be able to see Timeline and we’ll all be able to voice our opinions on whether we like it or not.
Zuckerberg said that “The next five years will be defined by apps and the depth of social engagement,” so clearly Facebook is doing its best to stay relevant and keep up with the changing social media landscape so it doesn’t end up like MySpace.
The problem is that confusion over privacy is still going to plague its progress and will turn people off of it. I wonder if Google+ will still have a chance now or if people will be happy with the new Facebook changes.
If you’re on Facebook, what do you think about the Timeline idea and its potential to change the social media user experience?
I agree with you on the information overload. Also, I tend to be like an elderly person in that I do not handle change well. Every time Facebook forces me to learn how to do something new, I get a little frustrated. I realize some change is necessary, but I think they should go slow and introduce these new ideas carefully.
Also, I agree with the fact that Facebook is social networking site, and not a stalker platform. There should be some limit on the “depth of social engagement.”