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"For those out of the loop, Facebook just introduced the\u00A0Timeline\u00A0at its recent F8 Conference. Besides the obvious changes in aesthetics thanks to the Sofa acquisition, Timeline alters everything from the purpose of the Facebook profile, to the way Facebook is pushing users to rethink their own privacy.\r\n\r\nTechCrunch recently published an article about\u00A0Why The Timeline Changes Nothing. Well, they're wrong. The timeline changes everything.\r\nWhat's Changed:\r\nEnter Timeline: Your Facebook profile is now a landing page, quickly displaying what's important in a way that compromises About.me's purpose. But dig deeper and you'll see how it's a hyper-accurate depiction of your life.\r\n\r\nTimeline also marks a change in the way Facebook rolls out redesigns. During the F8 presentation, the Timeline was gently\u00A0compared to the act of scrapbooking; a safe way of encouraging users to share more details more frequently.\u00A0By introducing Timeline as a &amp;quot;feature&amp;quot; instead of what it really is (the biggest online collection of your personal data to date), Zuckerburg essentially dodged a bullet. Facebook is easing users into a radically different experience.\r\n\r\n\r\nAn Eerie Goal?\r\nThe most important change, in my opinion, is how Timeline is a major step towards Zuckerburg's vision: highly public information. His thoughts on privacy have led to backlash in the past, but this time he's gotten off scot-free (so far).\r\n\r\nFor older users, information that was previously buried in the past is now easily accessible and stalker friendly. But for the parents who created a profile for their newborn baby (yes, that really happens), the Timeline reflects a paradigm shift in the way our lives are being shared with the rest of the world.\r\n\r\nNow babies, born with a Facebook account, have a life-long timeline of every major event that happened throughout their lives. Our children will eventually take hold of their accounts when they're old enough, and continue the Facebook cycle. This major change could safeguard Facebook from ever going the way of Myspace, all while creating a Skynet-like catalog of user information that makes Google look like it really does follow its &amp;quot;don't be evil&amp;quot; motto.\r\n\r\nLet's take this even further. Facebook is on it's way to becoming the largest index of people that has ever existed. Its database has over\u00A0800 million active users, and\u00A0may carry more detailed information than any public government census has had in the history of mankind (the US and China, for example,\u00A0publicly\u00A0gather ethnicity, employment, income and home address, not daily food consumption, music taste, location check-ins, etc).\u00A0Facebook is also\u00A0borderless, with more than 75% of users located outside the US.\r\nImagining Dystopia For A Moment...\r\nFacebook is already using face recognition technology, and its privacy policy is longer than the US Constitution. If I continue to use its newest sharing features, Facebook will eventually have access to my diet, my exercise habits, my love life, my family life, my media consumption and every place I've\u00A0publicly\u00A0been. Best of all: this wonderful information will finally be at the fingertips of major corporations. For example:\r\n&amp;quot;Do you remember Huggies Diapers? We know you used them as a kid. Here's a photograph to prove it. Why not buy some for your 1 year old, Charlie (29&amp;quot; and 22 lbs)?&amp;quot;\r\nBack to reality\r\nThe above imagines the worst case scenario.\u00A0Exaggerations\u00A0aside, I am concerned with Facebook's direction. These changes are causing me to reconsider my Facebook account, because I don't believe this level of life-tracking is a good thing. Of course, this is all my own opinion. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on why these changes are (or aren't)\u00A0beneficial\u00A0for users in the long run"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/09/25/facebooks-eerie-goal-why-timeline-changes-everything/>