Facebook Timeline

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Facebook Timeline is a radical new profile page design that Facebook will launch around the end of September 2011. It was announced by Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook's F8 conference following an introduction from SNL's Andy Samberg. (See pictures of Facebook Timeline here.)

Facebook Timeline changes the default profile from a list of your most recent updates to a complete summary of your entire life since birth. It includes photos, videos, status updates and locations you have visited. The new Facebook profile is divided into two main columns, with a line down the middle representing the passage of time. Users are encouraged to add life events which were not captured by Facebook, particularly those that occurred before the person joined Facebook.

Timeline uses an algorithm to assess the most important moments of your life, which can then be edited to your satisfaction. Unwanted updates can be hidden from the Timeline.

The new profile pages are thought to constitute one of Facebook's most extreme redesigns so far, completely reimagining what a social networking profile can be. Timeline also means that Facebook now bears fewer similarities to Google+, a social network from Google which currently uses the standard format of showing the most recent updates first.

Facebook made Timeline available for testing on September 22, 2011 (see How to Enable The New Facebook Timeline"). The response to the new layout has been mixed, with Mashable editor Lance Ulanoff penning an article entitled "Facebook Timeline, Zuckerberg's Biggest Gamble Yet". Charlie White, meanwhile, praised the changes in an article titled: Why I Love the New Facebook Timeline".

Criticisms of Facebook Timeline include claims that by requesting users "complete" their profiles, Facebook is seeking to capture more user data to make its service more appealing to advertisers. Others have expressed concerns about Facebook Timeline's ability to surface information about a person that was previously hard to access, and that Facebook's encouragement to add your date of birth to your profile (among other incentives to add additional personal information) may encourage identity theft.

Facebook Timeline has yet to be launched to all of its 800 million users.