The concern that a lot of people are having about Facebook and the release of their new feature of Timeline is with the issue of privacy.  The feature of autosharing to your friends and others what you are listening to, reading, and watching.  While I think that social search is key – there are certainly some boundaries that people are concerned about.  Here is how Don Draper (character from advertising firm drama “Mad Men”) discusses the new features that seem to be highlighted in the rationale for the new Facebook Timeline features:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ5RVtWH2gE[/youtube]

With these changes, many users were publicly voicing their opinions about these new changes to the social networking site.  This has caused Spotify to adapt their features to allow private listening for users on Facebook.  In addition, it has caused many tech blogs and writers to share and discuss the new implications of the ticker feature on FB  in which it broadcasts to the world all of the various activities you are doing in terms of likes, sharing, and commenting.

There are features and apps where you can limit to what people see in terms of your activity on Facebook. However, the motto of this for everyone is – be careful what you share with the rest of the world.  Making sure that you are proactively aware of what you are sharing can be seen by others and understand that your activity is not only going to be monitored more, but also it is going to be kept on record.

My perspective when it comes to various social media sites like FB, Google+, and Twitter among others is that this is a public sphere and if you are aware of these ahead of time, you will be fine.  If you practice good etiquette and manners consistently across all of these social media platforms as you do in real life, you will be fine.  However, if you are leading a double or triple life with various groups of people (ex. families, friends, and work colleagues) – well, Facebook will lay the stories on the Timeline table for the world to see and judge for themselves.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen