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New Facebook Timeline: Awesome or Embarrassing?

Yes, that is me on my "timeline" in 2007, drinking beer out of a boot.

 

I don’t know about you, but since hearing that the Facebook Timeline is likely to be mandatory, I’ve done a heavy-duty cleaning of my page.

I’ve decided it’s finally time to scrub my profile clean of the content that soon will be easily viewed by my 500 + friend list if I give access.

The Timeline feature scrolls years on the right side of your profile. You can click on those years and see what you were doing, who you were hanging out with and – er- in some cases – what you were drinking at that time of your life. 

“It’s a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story,” according to the Facebook blog.

According to an AP story published in The Washington Post, Facebook has notified some users that by Tuesday they have “seven days to clean up their profiles before Timeline gets automatically activated. Facebook is rolling out the requirement to others over the next few weeks.”

So now, it’s no longer a situation where a nosy, judge-y “friend” must painstakingly scroll through all my photos if they want to snoop on my past. They can just click on “2008” and see the horrific purple feather headband I wore as a flapper for Halloween. Or they could go even further and see me drinking beer out of a giant boot at a pub in Des Moines.

It’s that easy.

These days, I'd rather just highlight the nice pictures in which I’m smiling with my family.

Maybe I’ve gotten old. Or maybe Facebook has made it too easy for people to see the stories of our lives.

What do you think of the impending mandatory Facebook Timeline? Too much information in an already information-saturated world? Or is it a better-organized way to view the archive of your life?

Post below or vote in our poll.

  • Do you think Facebook should make its Timeline feature mandatory?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Yes
        8 (6%)
    • No
        108 (91%)
    • Unsure
        2 (1%)
    Total votes: 118
  • This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: Facebook, Social Media, Washington Post, and embarrassing

Pilton Paris

12:53 pm on Monday, January 30, 2012

I hate the new Facebook Timeline and was just kind of hoping we'd never have to switch. Seems like no one wants it! I just saw this Youtube video that pretty much sums up how celebs and regular people are feeling about it "Sh*t People Say about Facebook Timeline" haha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BMgF0AkjCM

Reply

Rania

9:08 am on Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I have mixed emotions about timeline but either way, we'll all be stuck with it soon enough. Here are seven resources to help you embrace Facebook Timeline: http://www.bit.ly/AmTpCn

Reply

Nigel

7:31 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012

It's sad that the these little guys every user of facebook made big, are now openly making it harder to stay private. The new layout in my opinion is cumbersome, its content structure verges on narcissism instead of the social network it was. It's not mandatory to stay with facebook, nor is it mandatory to keep any pictures or information you don't want 'who knows' to see. Me? I'm going to remove everything and use fb like a well oiled MSN.

Reply

lulu

2:22 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012

Just use your brain, before you post!

Reply

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