Photograph by bfishadow
Thou shalt have a timeline
Facebook has come under some criticism today for giving users seven days to adapt to their new look timeline before it is made mandatory across the board.
The new look timeline pages shows a users entire history on the site and not everyone is a fan of the design finding it clunkier and less user friendly than the Facebook they have become accustomed to using.
By the end of the week users will be updated through an announcement at the top of their home page which they will need to click to activate the timeline before going back onto the site.
The official Facebook Blog made this announcement: ‘‘Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story. Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it.’
Criticism against the timeline has included pictures and posts coming up that people don’t want others seeing and the fac that it pairs with ‘timeline apps’, such as Spotify which will show everyone what music you are listening to at any given time.
Mark Zuckerberg describes the timeline as letting you ‘tell the whole story of your life on a single page’ but many sites have already written guides instructing users how they can hide controversial content and comment on Twitter has shown mixed reactions.
Some of the comments include, ‘I don’t want a timeline on my Facebook – why do you force me to have one?’ and ‘I hate Facebook timeline design with a vengeance. More frippery and less function. Why are they forcing it on us?’
Many were shocked by how rapidly timeline had become compulsory.
Tech site Mashable said, ‘Facebook must know that putting a ticking clock in front of users is bound to make very few of them happy, yet here it is, stop watch in hand. Here’s my theory.’