Last month, Mark Zuckerberg and his top team of developers held f8. This was the official showcase for the upcoming updates to Facebook. Facebook has been evolving since its origin in 2004. The next batch of changes is going to be a pretty substantial leap for the social media site and the relationship it shares with its users. Social media sites already retain a ton of user information with their own brand of online file storage. Facebook’s addition of a timeline will showcase people’s information and activities even more.
The updates are going to be done gradually over the next few months. A changing scape is something Facebook users have gotten used to, even though some still complain all too willingly. Currently, users are getting used to a live ticker in their side panels that updates any actions their friends perform. This is a baby step toward a timeline that will include a lot more than that. Facebook has become an expert at highlighting the online activity of users. Now, the site is delving into the offline activity of its users as well. Through newly developing apps, Facebook timelines will feature the songs people listen to, the recipes they cook and how often they exercise. Facebook is creating “a socially acceptable way to express lightweight activity.”
Naturally, this amount of exposure will change the level of what is “appropriate” to post. As social media has evolved, users have been able to share more and more on the Internet. The power that Twitter and LinkedIn offer has made strong moves in stitching together users’ professional and private lives. Facebook’s timeline opens the opportunity for sharing even further. Should professionals, who may need to keep things private, be concerned?
The Facebook timeline makes viewing someone’s life as a whole easier, not just their most recent content. While the more recent and more prevalent things will have more real estate in the overall effect, everything will be accessible. Other than the timeline, Facebook’s further updates are more focused on bringing hobbies, or those ‘offline’ activities, on board.
Of course, there won’t be apps for anything illicit or provocative so these shouldn’t be a huge concern for professionals. The larger problem will still be the free places like walls and status updates where users can post whatever they want.
The new Facebook updates are not so invasive that professionals need to unfriend their colleagues. They will also not be encouraging anything negative from the user. In fact, positive events that are often documented like a graduation, adopting a child or celebrating a career milestone will be more visible. However, the new layout will make items from a long time ago easier to find. If a user had a former life that sports a different brand than they now want to carry it may be important to do a little pruning.
In all, the mantra of all talks of professionalism, private life and social media is the same—”privacy settings, privacy settings, privacy settings.”
