I joined Facebook on May 7, 2007. I know this because the new Facebook Timeline feature allows me to look at my entire life, literally from birth. The new look is set to go global in the coming weeks, and you are all going to hate it, but for all the wrong reasons.
How did I get the new profile before everyone else? Easy: I cheated. A sneak peek is open to all Facebook application developers, so the solution is just to create an app that does nothing, and poof, you’re in. Of course, once you enable the Timeline, there’s no way to change it back, a little detail I accidently overlooked.
Judging by the reaction to last week’s design changes, I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that the reaction will involve complaining, lots of complaining. When they put the new live feed in the corner, everyone went nuts. For some reason, I had already had it for a couple months and didn’t notice anything different. The other new change was the “top stories” section and the ability to divide people into groups, including “close friends,” which enhances the stalker capabilities we all use anyway. Granted that only half of the new stuff was actually novel for me, but I saw no real damage to the core usability of the system. Reading the comments of my friends, you’d think Zuckerberg had just revealed himself as the Antichrist. The hatred for the changes was immense. I couldn’t believe just how emotional everyone was about two little changes. Statuses like “Google+ is starting to look really appealing right about now” started popping up like daisies.
This leads me to the “new” new Facebook: the Timeline. Why they decided to release some minor tweaks just a few weeks before rolling out the big package is beyond me, but at last Thursday’s annual F8 Developers Conference, they brought the house down with the revelation of the new profile redesign, arguably the most drastic in the website’s history. Zuckerberg didn’t say when it would come out, only that it “won’t be available for a few weeks.” The idea is that instead of just showing what you’ve been up to recently, it will be a showcase of your life. The timeline is fully customizable and allows users to focus on the biggest events of their lives that they want to be featured. Users will be able to add impactful events like buying a home, having a baby, and getting a new job. The idea is to get the profile to reflect a deeper picture of who the user really is on a personal level.
Here is the wrong reason to hate the new Facebook: It’s different. Facebook is always changing; get over it. There is no “old” Facebook. Every “old” Facebook anyone has ever pined for in the fresh hours of a redesign was at one point a hated “new” Facebook. The change will occur, people will whine, they will get over it.
Here is the right reason to hate the new Facebook: It’s absolutely terrifying. Some of you may have picked up on this earlier, but Timeline is going to document your entire existence. From the day you were born, through all those awkward childhood photos your parents have posted, into your high school years, running up into college and the present. Every bad decision you’ve ever made, thrown right back at you; every terrible haircut, every angry rant and every incriminating photo from that crazy weekend freshman year, all right there for the world to see in all it’s shameful glory. The goal of Timeline is to be all-inclusive, whether you like it or not.
If privacy was ever a concern before, now it has probably been upgraded to slight panic. Facebook has somehow convinced us to divulge everything in the name of sharing, which they will take to the bank in the form of information. Data is the new currency of realm, ladies and gentleman and we’ve given all of ours away absolutely free. Those ads on the side of your page that automatically cater to what you just typed are only the beginning. Facebook and any marketer in their good graces now knows you better than you know yourself.
I absolutely hate to sound like an alarmist, but what I see occurring needs serious commentary. To borrow a movie metaphor, we are plugging ourselves into the Matrix. Our virtual lives, what used to be just shadows of our real selves, are being transformed into a copy of who we really are. Our online selves now have all our memories laid out in sequence as if our profile had been there for all those events.
The social network is the epitome of what Web 2.0 is supposed to be about. We have online profiles to connect and share among ourselves who we really are. “Oh, Ian just liked ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ I didn’t know that about him, how interesting.” But what I fear is occurring is that we are starting to cater our real selves to fit our online profiles. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard someone say, “It’s not a real relationship until it’s Facebook official.” How many young adults are growing up in a world where social status is determined by the quantity of online friends rather than the quality of your flesh and blood connections?
Your life is far too complex to be captured digitally. You are far too special of a person to ever be encapsulated by what is displayed on a website. Feelings, experiences, nuances of personality and character, all these things cannot be digitized. No picture will ever convey what it was like to be there, the excitement of the moment. No amount of likes on your status can make you feel truly wanted, and no change in relationship status can ever compare to the feeling of falling in love.
The new Facebook is going to make it even easier for us to fall into the trap of neglecting our real selves. We are already a generation lacking in authentic connection because all we know is shallow digital interaction. You don’t have to delete your profile (which is good, because you probably can’t); just remember that social media is a tool for enriching your life, not the other way around.
