As many of you have already seen, Facebook recently launched the 'Timeline' feature which allowed a Facebook users 'life story' to be shown in the form of a scrap-book style profile page. All of your activity on Facebook within a particular year (and since you created your account) such as photos taken, events attended etc are captured by Facebook and then displayed to your friends in a 'Timeline' format.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, describes the timeline as letting you “tell the whole story of your life on a single page'”.

So far the reviews have been mixed, which is a normal reaction to such a drastic change, but following the release, Facebook made sure that this feature was optional so that those who preferred the old format could still keep the older style.

However, Facebook have now announced that the timeline format will be become the standard format and will replace the existing style from when the deadline is applied (due to be announced in the next few weeks).

Currently, when you switch to timeline-mode you will have a 7-day preview window with which to make your changes, set your privacy options and publish and/or hide specific content before your profile converts to the new format permanently and goes live.

To see how your timeline appears to other people, click the gear menu at the top of your timeline, and select "View As." You can then choose to see how your timeline appears to a specific friend or the public.

With every change they make, Facebook is risking the wrath of it's users – and with this latest change being the most drastic since its creation – they must be sure that the benefits and opportunities of business development will out-way any negative reaction to the changes.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Timeline profiles late last year, and explained that the vision they have is to allow its best part of a billion users to create an ‘online scrapbook’ of their time on the site.

Critics suggest it is to further monetise the site and open up users to the mercy of the Business-to-commercial shark pit. One of the new 'exciting' features that endorse this, is the introduction of the thousands of new 'Timeline Apps'.

These apps will be customized for use with a users profile and the purpose of displaying a product or update of a service. For example, the Spotify app will show all of the songs your currently listening to in real-time, and will then display them on your timeline to the rest of your friends.

While this is indeed an exciting prospect for businesses wanting to advertise to highly targeted demographics, for the rest of the social and casual users – this could eventually prove invasive, irritating and lessen the enjoyment of using the site.

As with most things, only time (no pun intended) will tell if the timeline proves to be a lasting and welcome change to the World of social media – perhaps we should give it a chance at least.

If you want to get the timeline now, go to the 'Introducing Timeline' page (found by searching for this in the top search bar) and click "Get Timeline." Or you can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your home page.

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