Facebook Timeline – By the time you read this, it may be too late.
It is easy to get nearly live streaming updates and news from every angle on the Internet. But what many people may not understand is that when you publish something on the Internet IT DOES NOT GO AWAY.
Facebook’s new format –“Timeline” — was rolled out in September and will go full scale soon — maybe before you read this blog post. (You can even access this blog post on my Facebook page! It’ll be there for years and years.)
What does this mean? Every single post, ‘like’ link, friendship, and photo you have ever published on Facebook will be kept in an endless stream . . . for anyone to access.
Think about this: Your nine year old has a Facebook account and ‘likes’ certain pages and bands; has photos of friends and herself up, makes comments about her life and family, and shares her views and opinions, and she continues to do so as she grows. When she is 18 and applies for jobs and colleges, her Facebook page will still show a history of what she posted from age NINE. When she is 35 and up for a job review or decides on a career change, her new employers can still see what she was doing every year since she was nine years old. Anyone with any sort of authority can access Facebook accounts — police, lawyers, employers. They will have access to an incredibly extensive record, won’t they? Plus, the potential for misuse of information is mind boggling.
“Timeline” is mandatory. It started on December 15. Once you upgrade to Timeline, if you don’t like the way Facebook is publishing your information, you have seven days to make changes. After that, it’s too late.
Frankly, Facebook continues to make changes, and I am confident this is not the last change it will make. Our children are comfortable in this worldwide arena, but we adults know that sometimes youthful indiscretion can come back to haunt. Facebook is making it easier for all to see those youthful indiscretions – for a long time. The bigger message is that we need to figure out ways to help our kids figure it out so they can stay safe and preserve as much privacy as there is left.
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this is SUPER scary — i’ve talked to several kids about this and they really DON’T understand the impact this may have on them. I don’t think many parents do either.