The Ever Evolving Facebook

So the other day, I was taking a ‘break’ from studying and was browsing through Facebook. As soon as I clicked home, I saw something change in my newsfeed. Correction, I saw a lot of things change in my newsfeed. No longer two-tabbed with the “Top Stories” and “Most Recent”, my newsfeed suddenly got a sidebar that seemed to be rolling non-stop, showing me pretty much everything that’s happening with my friends, and their most recent activities.

All the posts and updates that Facebook seems to think is important to you is shown on the main feed, with the option of further fine-tuning by clicking on the blue triangle on the top corner of each of said posts to denote importance.

And let’s not forget about the new Facebook Timeline that the company will be rolling out in the next few weeks. Supposedly the next huge thing for Facebook, Timeline will pretty much sum up your whole Facebook life on your profile. Not only will the new Facebook (how many times have we heard that said?) allow you to share pretty much anything you want easier, but it will also go through everything in your Facebook history (ever), and put it on the timeline, depending on the relevance. Therefore, the longer you’ve used Facebook, the more stuff from your past the social media site will be able to dig up and reveal on your timeline—and the easier it will be to find it. The privacy settings will remain the same as those applied to your profile and wall, unless you want it otherwise.

Here's a screenshot of the Facebook Timeline...note the years along the side!

So what does that mean for us students? Depending on your private settings and security, future employers do routinely scan popular social media sites as part of the hiring process. They will be able to see if you are the type of person you claim to be and plenty of other salacious tidbits of your life…unless you spend some time organizing and cleaning things up!

It’s amazing to see how much social media has integrated into our lives, no? I’m definitely curious to see how marketing companies are going to take advantage of this change in the future! 

Timeline is scheduled for release on September 30^th for everyone. There IS a method of getting it now (for all you impatient ones, here's a guide), but for me, I think I’ll wait for Facebook to roll it out for me. So what do you guys think? Facebook's best invention yet, or not?

About the author: Karen Chen

Tea/coffee addict, travel junkie, dance performer, art lover, business student. She reads books in her spare time, and definitely spends an unhealthy amount of the day on the internet. Karen is also looking forward to be going on exchange to Toulouse, France this coming January; it will be an adventure for sure!