Facebook Timeline. The time of your life. Your life story...
Uhmmm, no, no its not.
Its not my life and it doesn't come close to providing a snapshot of my life either. So wax it Facecrack. Im not down with it. I aint 'liking' this....
Time line. A revolutionary way of displaying ones past for the vogueruistic pleasure of others to drool over. Pass me the Facecloth please...
Awesome, well no, not really, im not a big fan.
Or am I?....
Timeline exposes nearly every recorded piece of data you have ever been associated with in a fancy pants new skinned design. The photos are breezy and the content scrollable, its now like flicking through a file, yet that file is a persons life.
Ok so for some, they love it. Hurrah! Its the tool that just sums up large segments of your life and voids any cognitive function to communicate on a level we had once been accustomed to. Long before this thing called Facebook, there existed electronic mail, and to be frank, (or murray) thats all I keep my Facebook account open for these days. Instant messaging to a very wide radiance of acquaintances.
You see, I think its all gone a bit pete tong. Facebook now has morphed into a living and growing organism. It retains all information, owns all information ever uploaded to it and can use, duplicate and display that information pretty much how they please. The recent floating of Facebook onto the internet has sent stock markets and financial analysts scrawling in attempts to actually 'value' this company.
Its been valued alright, a whopping $90 billion but a lot of this value is placed on the information that Facebook actually holds. As a user, that automatically sets off my alarm bells.
I have for some time, restricted my personal use of Facebook. I havent uploaded any photos, very rarely use my wall to write or post things and again, rarely engage in conversations with my 'friends' unless it is via direct messaging service. Thats just me, Im starting to withdraw from certain social action as the old cliche goes, once bitten, twice shy...
I can recall a few years back when some photos were uploaded of a farewell party for me. The party was comically coined 'Big Gay Dens Big Gay Leaving Party' on a big painted banner, the self proclaimed 'jokers' I had been working with in the hostel thought it was a hilarious title to theme a party. 'Gays n Lesbians' was the get up, and get on up the party got.
Needless to say there were some classic and compromising snapshots uploaded to the F.book over the following days. A couple of photos featuring me walking round with an inflatable penis tied round my waste (doing drunken silly things behind peoples backs) made it back to my mother and unbeknown to me some of my little cousins had copped it also.
God only knows how people digest things, but in hindsight its probably not the type of photos you would whip out on the coffee table around a family get-together. Esp from the conservative roots that my family heralds from. "No mum, everyone is just acting, they're not gay, im not gay, she's not gay, he's not.....well maybe he's a bit gay....and yes thats a tattooed penis on my bicep and forehead..." Wtf, I thought, why am i even trying to explain this...?!!
This episode was followed by another F.book blip, when i casually listed my then girlfriend as 'my wife' or 'married' i think it was. Again, this trailed back through my family and they were disgusted that after 2 years I hadnt seen them I had the audacity to get married without telling them.
I learnt my lesson. Some people live and breathe what is posted on Facebook. 1 million miles away the harmless banter that can seem jovial and at the very least comical at the time, you gotta realise that that shits viral, aint no firewall protecting your granny from viewing that tagged photo of you and your mate in a mankini. (for the books, i wasnt in the mankini!)
I guess in a way it has something to do with the shear number of 'friends' I have on Facebook as well and the different value that I place on the respective levels of friendships. I am aware of privacy filters and have a few attached to my profile, but this recent move by Facebook of compulsory roll out of the timeline has seen me shut off pretty much all information that I wish to share with this massive corporation.
I had a conversation with a mate the other night, about Facebook 'friends'. The conclusion we came to was, if hypothetically, tomorrow or in 5 years time, I was in their town (and had time up my sleeve) and chose not to call/see them, then, really, are they are 'friend'?!
The recent flutterings in the internet winds has sent a warning shiver down my spine with the encroaching influences of ACTA and SOPA and the localisation control implemented in other corners of the internet. The world of free flowing information is now being quietly coerced, controlled and manipulated behind the scenes. If anything, Im erring on the side of caution when it comes to uploading personal data on the web in general.
So for me, is it creepy or beautiful?! I spose when your made aware of the creepy habits of some whom use this telescope of time it starts to loose its novelty.
Its beautiful in the sense that we are all guilty of a bit of voyerguism in our own rights, but theres nothing beautiful about privatising personal information.
The web is changing, it is about as obvious as climate warming, but again, too few people actually give a shit and the big bizos continue to grind the turning stones.......sharpening some form of futuristic leverage on us all....
This was an interesting 12 min documentary that explores friendship and communication in an era where privacy is a rare commodity.
