The New Facebook Redesign – Why You Should Be Worried When It Launches
In the next few weeks, Facebook will be completely revamped with one of the biggest changes we will see since Facebook first launched. With people expressing hatred to the change that occurred in the past few days, it would be interesting to see the reaction when Facebook introduces the Timeline for Facebook Profiles.
The screenshot above is Mark Zuckerberg’s Timeline. The timeline allows people to view your profile on a particular date. Currently, if you wanted to find out what a friend did back in 2009, you would have to spend hours scrolling through their profile, only to get a message saying, “We can’t show more items”. The Timeline fixes this issue and allow you to see what someone on a particular year or month. With one click, I found out that Zuckerberg met with the presented with a few other people, which this something I probably wouldn’t have found using the old Facebook Profile view (then again, I never really went to his profile).
So what does this mean? – You should be worried!
For those who have posted regrettable things in the past, forgotten about them, and never deleted those posts or comments, you should be worried. It’s now incredibly easy for someone go back on your life and see what you have posted. If you’ve previously split up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, and got a new relationship with someone else, all those previous “I love you” messages can be easily seen by your new partner, which has the potential to end your current relationship with them. This is also no exception to all those drunken status updates you don’t remember posting.
It’s pretty scary stuff to see how easy it now is to look back on your life using Facebook, and I am sure many forgotten or regrettable things will now just appear. One the plus side, if you are a Facebook Stalker, this is a great new tool to use.
What can you do about it?
I’ve provided numerous posts about protecting your Facebook profile from your employer, how to securely access your Facebook account, how to delete your Facebook account and start from scratch, and how to protect your personal and online identity which are all great resources you should read and put to action. However, I would strongly recommend anyone who knows that have posted negative things on Facebook is to review your profile and delete those comments.
Every month or so, I delete every comment, and status update I write apart from Happy Birthday messages, so my Timeline doesn’t show up much because I’m very caution of privacy (and in case Facebook did do something like this), but for those who rarely delete things, and who write comments while drunk, you might have something to worry about.
How do I get the new Timeline?
Currently, only Facebook developers have access to try the Timeline. Basically, if you have created a Facebook App, you should be able to get it. If not, you can easily create a Facebook App and try it out before it goes live to everyone. By testing it out now, you can go back on your Facebook profile and delete any unwanted posts before they go publicly available to everyone on September 30th 2011.
Gizmodo has provided a good explanation (with photo’s) on how to get Facebook’s new Timeline. Nevertheless, here are some basic instructions:
- Go to https://developers.facebook.com/ and click Create New App and fill it out
- Click on Open Graph on the left hand side, and fill out the “People Can” with anything like “watch” and “video”
- Go to your Facebook profile, and click on the Timeline message
Are you worried?
Are you now worried about the information the Facebook Timeline will expose on you? Share your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion on Facebook.
Never share anything with zuckerberg that you wouldnt shout in the middle of a supermarket
Great words of advice!
[b]Remember that your online presence magnifies[/b]
Thank you for the post and heads up – I was entirely unaware of this feature coming up. I’ve actually not really noticed the recent changes either – other than some scrolling stuff to the right, but no biggie because I automatically ignore it really.
Two comments on your statements above:
1. If you’re in a relationship that is so fragile that professions of love to a previous partner that happened [i]in the past[/i] can impact the future of being together or incite conflict – then I’d argue that this relationship is not built to last and should be departed immediately. If a relationship is based on trust and love – then nothing from the past will threaten its survival or success! I’d like to assume that people are more mature than this – and if they are not – then they probably aren’t ideal partners and should reconsider the wisdom of their pairing!
2. It continues to amaze me how people relate to Facebook or any other online social media as “private” in some way. There is absolutely nothing private about what goes on in the “online” world. Everything one posts or creates online is searchable and in some database somewhere. Ultimately, I believe it is wise to ALWAYS relate to whatever you put online as publicly accessible in one way or another. Aside from your credit card details through a secure website, you can expect anything you put up can be found. So never *EVER* post anything you will later regret. And if you’re stupid when you’re drunk – then stop getting drunk.
3. Finally, and the main point, is that one should always remember that posting anything online – especially via Facebook, Twitter, etc. gets magnified! If you post negative stuff – then that too gets magnified 😀 So I would submit that it is critical to only post that information which contributes positively to the world and your audience – or at the very least is not something you’ll feel ashamed of at a later time. As adults, we are now expected to exercise a little forethought in our actions. Up the level of your integrity with your character so that you’re positive and consistent in all domains of your life (instead of being multiple personality disorder) and these new features in Facebook will go from scary to useful =)
My own $0.02 🙂 Again, great post, thanks for sharing!
Hi Gabriel,
Thanks for your comment!
In response to 1, that is true, but I only mentioned that as an example of what could happen. Maybe it could be that you’ve posted something bad you did at your old job, and your new boss reads if (if you’re silly to add your boss as a friend).
2. Your completely right. All it takes is for a little bug and your updates are exposed. Like that Twitter up that published credit card numbers (it tweets your credit card purchases). And remember the day when people could read other peoples chats they were having in real time. All someone has to do is tick the find via search engine button, set your posts to published and it will be on Google for ever, and sites like [url]http://youropenbook.org/[/url]
3. Totally agree there, and it usually has more of a chance to go Viral if it’s negative. I often find that I need to post something, but it’s just a little to personal. I try hard not to write status updates. I seem to write them, but never publish them which is good.
I was a little iffy at first but I’m starting to dig the new timeline, there are a couple apps that can do some pretty cool stuff with it. Check this out [url]http://www.TheSiteCanvas.com[/url]
Thanks for the link… That app looks interesting.
How can I delete a happy birthday comment given to a friend who has the new timeline? I already have tried to press the X button,but it doesn’t work.Thx
Hi Cristina,
Facebook can be a bit annoying sometimes deleting thigns.
If you are on the new timeline, you can find your comment in your activity feed. But if they are on the new timeline, you should be able to go to the post on their timeline, click on the X, and select delete.
Thanks for the tutorial and for the link! The info is very interesting for me))
Hi there! New Timeline also worries me a lot. I just checked my profile,links I provided, comments and other stuff back to 2009. It is awful indeed. I really don’t want anyone especially my employer could read it!
Well you better go through your past posts and delete everything you don’t want to be read.
Thanks for this post!
I’ve checked up my profile on Facebook to find out whether this Timeline appeared or not.
I don’t know what to think. For me it’s really much easier if this option exists. I am not afraid of finding smth like ‘ love you’ from my ex-boyfriends, as far as I delete everything in time. As for me writing something on the other walls- that’s nothing more than birthdays congrats and ‘like it’ comments ;-))