Facebook profile changing face

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s profile displays the new Timeline layout. The changes will highlight memorable events in one’s life. Screenshot from Facebook.com

In the last two weeks, Facebook has undergone numerous changes, such as the addition of a ticker on the side of the homepage and the option to subscribe to certain friends.

Now, the social networking site is announcing its biggest change to date.

At the 2011 Facebook F8 conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the addition of the Facebook Timeline, which is a monumental shift in the way a user’s profile is organized.

“Timeline is the story of your life, and it has three pieces: all your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are,” Zuckerberg said during the keynote address of the F8 conference.

The profile page will now be split into two columns with a timeline stretching down the middle.

Information shown will include statuses, updates, photos, videos and will essentially document a person’s entire life.

According to CNN, “Facebook will become a record of your existence: all your memories, your victories and your defeats, your loves, your losses and everything in between.”

This new virtual scrapbook will also use a logarithm to display the most memorable moments of an individual’s life.

A person can also include information that occurred before the profile was created or was not added at all.

The biggest issue Facebook is facing is privacy. According to a recent article in The Washington Post, “Some apps, such as The Washington Post’s Social Reader or Hulu will let you consume news and media content right from Facebook and tell your friends what items you’re reading, watching or listening.”

However, the addition of these apps is completely optional.

While some users have access, the timeline is not yet available for all users. Some students do not like the changes.

“I don’t think Facebook should change,” freshman Allie Gerspach said. “I like the way it is now. It’s social networking; it doesn’t need a timeline.”

Other users do not mind the change.

“I don’t really mind,” said Sophie Juneau, a first-year architecture student. “I just go there to maintain contacts.”