Facebook is changing. If some people were upset by the small changes
on the profile that happened last week, these new changes are going to be on a
different level. This is the end of Facebook as you know it.
At last week’s
Facebook developers conference, f8, the company introduced the radically
redesigned profile page now called the Facebook Timeline. Instead of a single
column stream of status updates and photo uploads, the new Timeline provides a
deeper look into your past.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described Timeline as “a great
way to discover all the things people have done their whole life.” Facebook is
about to completely change the way its profile pages look as part of the
website's biggest redesign so far.
The first thing you'll notice is you no longer have a just a
small profile picture. This has been replaced by a giant photo right at the top
of the page. This is your cover, and it's completely up to you which of your
photos you put here.
Timeline has been compared to the act of scrapbooking- a way
of encouraging users to share more details more frequently. It’s a stream of
everything about you, it organises your life in reverse chronological order
based on the content you've shared on your Facebook profile, including your
status updates, pictures you've uploaded, the apps you've installed, games you
played and music you love.
Timeline goes back all the way to your birthdate,
encouraging you to go back and post even more information about yourself and
add more pictures. It also includes a map feature that lets you see where
you’ve been, thanks to Facebook Places.
Timeline will be opt-in to start with, however in the long
run, it will become the new default profile page.
Facebook is taking a big gamble with this new profile. Even
the smallest changes Facebook makes to how it looks or works gets users complaining,
so it will certainly be interesting to watch how the response to Timeline plays
out.