Facebook have rolled out a number of updates to the Facebook user interface over the years and these have been accepted with some grumbling but accepted eventually nonetheless. But when Facebook launched its new Timeline user interface, there was quite a bit more than just mere random grumbling from a few users afraid of change. In a recent poll conducted by Sophos, some shocking realities popped up that have many wondering whether the new Timeline feature will take a longer time on the user acceptance curve than all the other changes combined.
According to the poll that reached out to 4110 respondents, 32% said that the Timeline change was so bad that it was enough to make them think of leaving Facebook. A further 51% polled said they were worried by the new Timeline feature with half of the remaining 16% saying they liked it and the other half saying they would get used to it. A similar poll run by SlashGear seemed to corroborate this as out of 5,800 respondents, 45% said they were considering deleting their Facebook page as a result of the new Timeline feature with another 22% saying they were not convinced yet.
One of the biggest issues people are having with the new Timeline feature has to do with privacy. As privacy expert Graham Cluely says, the new Timeline makes it easy for identity thieves to get a detailed version of your life and grab it to propagate their nefarious acts. Furthermore, the new feature also makes it difficult to keep some things private as everything is displayed for all and sundry. The other concern that has recently cropped up as well has to do with the new sharing features that share everything a user reads without requiring them to either like the post or share it manually.
This has many users irritated because they feel that just because someone is reading an article does not mean they want to share it to their timeline. Nevertheless, Facebook has proven to be quite the oxymoron as it continues to grow by leaps and bounds as it approaches 1 billion users even with the few dissenting voices popping up every now and then. What’s your experience with the new Timeline feature? Love it or hate it?
