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Tag: Facebook timeline

  • Facebook’s ‘Timeline’ Trademark Trial Delayed

    With no explanation, a U.S. District Judge has delayed the trial that has Facebook on the defensive over its “Timeline” product.

    The case involves Chicago-based Timelines.com, a site that allows users to create interactive “timelines” based on historical events. Back in October of 2011, they sued Facebook for trademark infringement just weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new Timeline profile page at the company’s f8 conference.

    That trial was supposed to have begun this morning, but Bloomberg is reporting that it has been delayed without further explanation.

    According to the report, U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah conferred with lawyers for approximately 90 minutes before declaring a recess, after which he said that the tril would be postponed until either tomorrow afternoon, or if need be, May 7th.

    After Timelines.com sued Facebook for the supposed trademark infringement, Facebook countersued, claiming that the word “timeline” was too generic for federal trademark protections. They argue that Timelines.com has no legal rights to them, and that they should be canceled.

    Facebook moved for dismissal, but Judge Darrah rejected that motion earlier this month. He said that Facebook “failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.” He noted that the word “timeline” may very well have specific meaning to Timelines.com users, and therefore the case should see a trial.

    As of now, that trial will have to wait.

  • Facebook’s Timelines Trial Gets Underway

    Facebook’s Timelines Trial Gets Underway

    This morning, Facebook begins its defense of its Timeline product against a website who claims that its continued use amounts to trademark infringement.

    The website, Timelines.com, lets users create and edit “timelines” of historical events. They sued Facebook back in October of 2011, just weeks after Facebook announced their new Timeline product at the company’s f8 conference. As of now, all Facebook users have the new Timeline, which is an update of the traditional Facebook profile page.

    Timelines.com claimed that Facebook was infringing upon their trademarks by operating the new profile under the name “Timeline.” Facebook quickly countersued, claiming that the term “timeline” is generic – too generic in fact to deserve any sort of federal trademark protections. They have argued that the trademarks should be canceled.

    “Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” says Facebook.

    Earlier this year, Facebook asked U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah to dismiss the original suit. And a few weeks ago, Darrah ruled that the claim must go to trial. He said that Facebook had ““failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.”

    He also concluded that with “millions of dollars invested in its business and more than a thousand active users,” it’s reasonable to believe that the word “timeline” has its own specific meaning to Timelines.com users.

    Timelines.com has just shy of 100,000 visitors a month, while Facebook boats over 1 billion monthly active users. The trial began this morning in the Northern District Court of Illinois.

  • Facebook Timeline Designer Leaving the Company

    Nicholas Felton, a Facebook product designer who helped to create the Timeline, has announced that he is “moving on” from the company.

    Felton, who began working on the new Facebook Timeline project in April of 2011, says that he’s proud of the projects he worked on and confident in the future products.

    Fittingly, you can find his entire message posted on his Timeline:

    On April 19, 2011 I walked into the Palo Alto Facebook office and began contributing to the timeline project. Two years, many late nights and a few launch celebrations later I will be moving on.

    The opportunity to help mold a service of such importance to so many people has been a high point in my professional career. I’m extremely proud of the projects I worked on, grateful to the teams that built them and confident in the products to come. – feeling nostalgic at Facebook HQ.

    Felton originally studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design and credits himself as the founder of Daytum.com. He says in a comment on that post that he will be returning to New York city, but no further info on his plans.

    After announcing Timeline at their f8 conference in the Fall of 2011, Facebook began rolling it out, very slowly, in December of the same year. Like many new Facebook products, Timeline was initially met with a lot of negative feedback – both from people concerned about privacy and some who simply didn’t like the design. Over the past year or so, Facebook has made small tweaks to Timeline and users have begun to accept it. Last month, Facebook announced a major refresh of Timeline, bringing a one-column look that puts more focus on interests. That update is still slowly rolling out to all users.

    [h/t Mashable]

  • Facebook’s Timeline Lawsuit Must Go to Trial

    A U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that a lawsuit between Facebook and Timelines.com will in fact go to trial, after denying Facebook’s notion that the trademark-infringement lawsuit should be killed due to overly-generic trademarks.

    Back in October of 2011, fresh off of unveiling the new Timeline profiles at the f8 conference, Facebook was sued by Timelines.com – a site that lets users create chronological historical records. The site, which launched in 2009, claimed that Facebook was infringing on their trademark with their new “Timeline” feature.

    A few months later, Facebook countersued. They claimed that the term “timeline” is generic, citing the fact that a Google search of the term yields nearly 200 million results.

    “Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” said Facebook.

    Now, a Judge has ruled that the trial must go on, saying that Facebook has “failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.”

    He claims that Timelines.com has “millions of dollars invested in its business and more than a thousand active users,” and that it’s reasonable to believe that “timelines” has its own specific meaning to Timelines.com users.

    A couple of months ago, Facebook updated investors on the situation, saying:

    “We believe the claims made by the Timelines plaintiffs are without merit, and we intend to continue to defend ourselves vigorously. Although the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain, we do not believe the possibility of loss…is probable.”

    The trial is set to kick off April 22nd.

    [Above image is Timelines.com’s Facebook Timeline]

  • Facebook Launches One-Column Timeline with More Focus on Interests

    It looks like the news feed isn’t the only Facebook product getting a major refresh.

    For the past few months, Facebook has been testing a one-column Timeline layout that puts all your posts in one, larger column and everything else like music, photos, recent activity, and other Open Graph actions on the other side.

    Today, Facebook is beginning to roll this new Timeline out to all users.

    The new layout puts all of your post on the right-hand side in a single, streamlined column. Everything else, like friends, photos, and more now rest in the smaller, left-hand column:

    Your About page is also getting a facelift, with more focus given to your interest (music, movies, books, TV, etc.) and the apps that deal with them. Each interest gets its own section, for instance “Movies” allows you to easily add films you’ve watched, films you “want to watch” and films you “like.”

    You can either manually add movies to this list or you can let apps like Netflix (which just opened up Facebook integration today) or Flixster do the legwork.

    You can also add custom apps to your Timeline to express what you’re most interested in, for example Instagram.

    “To simplify how apps are displayed on timeline, we’re replacing aggregations with app sections. Previously, only top-ranked Open Graph stories and aggregations would appear on timeline. Now, when someone adds an app section, it will appear in the same place until they edit the order or visibility,” says Facebook.

    If you want to add a specific app to your Timeline, all you have to do is click the “add to profile” button on you app section page.

    Facebook says that they will roll out these changes over the coming weeks, so be patient.

  • Facebook Tests Another (Flipped) Timeline Layout

    Your Timeline is most likely getting a fairly significant redesign – but it’s still unclear exactly when it will launch globally and exactly what it will look like.

    Facebook has been pretty busy testing new Timeline designs as of late. A new, streamlined one-column Timeline made an appearance for some Facebook users back in October 2012.

    And earlier this month, that test rolled out to users in New Zealand, Facebook’s favorite testing ground for new products and features.

    Today’s new Timeline test is very similar to the aforementioned test, except that it’s been flipped.

    Like the other Timeline test floating around, the column that contains user posts has been expanded. It’s streamlined and single-column, meaning that ‘message’ style posts will only appear in one column. And Open Graph actions, friends, and other information is the only thing that will appear in the other column.

    The image tiles at the top that allow users to access your photos, friends, likes, and map have been replaced by tabs for “Timeline,” “About,” “Friends,” “Photos,” and “More.”

    Profile pics have also been moved out of the cover photo a bit. The stuff that was previously below the profile pic (location, job, etc.) has been moved to the right.

    BUT IT’S FLIPPED!

    Posts on the right, Open Graph activity on the left. It’s a bizarro Facebook Timeline.

    [Inside Facebook]

  • Facebook Expands Test of New Streamlined Timeline

    Facebook is continuing (and expanding) a test that revamps users’ Timelines by creating a single, more prominent column for statuses and posts, as well as redesigns the section headers by doing away with the clunky image boxes we’ve seen since Timeline first launched.

    The Next Web is reporting on the Timeline redesign, and they say that it has rolled out across New Zealand. Facebook routinely tests new features and products in New Zealand before bringing them to the rest of the world.

    The new profile appearing in New Zealand appears to be the same new profile test that we saw back in October, when it was spotted in only a fraction of users.

    The redesigned Timeline isn’t a drastic change from what you currently see, but it is a pretty significant one. Upon first look you’ll notice that the image tiles at the top that allow users to access your photos, friends, likes, and map are gone. They’ve been replaced by tabs for “Timeline,” “About,” “Friends,” “Photos,” and “More.”

    Users’ profile pics have also been moved down, out of the cover photo a bit. The info that was previously below the profile pic (location, job, etc.) has been moved to the right.

    But the most noticeable difference in this new Timeline test comes when you scroll down. You’ll notice an expanded left-hand column, where status updates and friend posts appear. As we mentioned back in October, this test also streamlines these posts, displaying them in the left-hand column entirely. “Message” style posts will no longer fill in the right-hand column after a users’ open graph and other activity runs out.

    We’ll update you on this test, and whether or not it graduates from New Zealand. Facebook has had this one in the works for over two months now, so we’ll take a guess and say that all users should see this new Timeline fairly soon.

  • Facebook Simplifies Your Stream with New Timeline Layout Test

    If you think that the Facebook Timeline is too busy, and focuses too much on open graph apps instead of posts, Facebook is testing a new layout that might make you happy.

    The new Timeline test removes the visible dividing line running down the middle, expands all of the user’s post on the left, and shrinks the “stuff” on the right. That “stuff” being friends, likes, recent activity, and app posts.

    Not only that, but when you reach the end of that “stuff” on the right, the tested version of the Timeline doesn’t fill the empty space with user posts. Instead, it lets the posts continue down the left-hand side – streamlined, if you will. If you’re one of those people who complained about the Timeline being cluttered and forcing you to look back and forth to view posts, this should be a good change for you.

    On the other hand, the Timeline looks pretty empty once you get past the likes and app posts.

    Here’s the current Timeline:

    And here’s the tested Timeline, both above and below the fold:

    Inside Facebook says that the dual-stream was one of the most common complaints about the new Timeline, and that this test would be a way to remedy the situation. From what I remember, most complaints about the Timeline involved privacy concerns and the fact that Facebook was forcing it upon users. Sure, some complained about the overall look and feel, but the biggest gripe about the Timeline stemmed from the fact that users will complain about anything new that Facebook does, no matter what it is.

    Either way, what do you think about this Timeline design? Better or worse?

  • AMC Gives Fans The Walking Dead Season 3 Facebook Timeline Covers

    AMC has released some new downloads for fans of The Walking Dead. In a blog post, the network points to a page with some new Facebook Timeline covers, instant message icons and wallpapers. You can find any and all of them here.

    Here’s what the Facebook Timeline cover photos look like:

    Walking Dead Timeline Cover

    Walking Dead Timeline cover

    Walking Dead Facebook Timeline Cover

    Walking Dead Timeline 4

    That last one is from the Facebook game that AMC launched last month.

    There are fourteen character IM icons and 9 wallpapers (including wallpaper versions of the above images).

    In other The Walking Dead news, the show has teamed up with the American Red Cross on a blood drive, and has put out some cool photos of various celebrities zombified by FX guru Greg Nicotero.

    The Walking Dead Season 3 starts October 14.

  • Register to Vote Recently? Add It to Your Facebook Timeline

    Like it or not, Facebook is one of the most popular arenas for political discussion (and arguing) in the world. Think about it; nearly one billion people, all with their own views on how their countries should be run. Set aside the fact that your cousin Jed really annoys you with his incessant updates, and your idiot sister doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Facebook is a powerful medium for people to influence other people.

    And Facebook wants you to help get out the vote by telling the story of why you registered to vote.

    “Starting today, you can add to your timeline that you registered to vote, and share your story about when, where or why you decided to register. If you’re not already registered and want to be, you’ll find a link to your state’s election authority there as well,” says the U.S. Politics and Government team in a post.

    All you have to do it visit your Timeline, click on the appropriate spot and choose “life event.” From there, choose “travel & experiences,” and you’ll see the “Registered to vote” event. Enter a date, location, and a brief story behind why you decided to register to vote and click save.

    In theory, all of your friends will see that you’ve created this new Timeline event and be inspired to register to vote. Facebook hopes it “will result in a more involved and informed citizenry ahead of Election Day.”

    Facebook has gotten a little more political in 2012, partnering with CNN to provide electorate insights throughout the campaign. Last month, the two unveiled the “I’m Voting” app, which allows users to pick candidates and issues that they support, and share that information with their friends. Facebook says that this new Timeline event should work in tandem with the “I’m Voting” app.

  • Less than 20% of Facebook Users Have Yet to Sign Up for Timeline

    It won’t be long, Timeline holdouts. Some time in the next couple of months, you’re going to log into Facebook and find a little message at the top of your screen. That message will inform you that you have seven days to get everything in order, because in that time your brand new Timeline will go live to all users.

    Facebook has begun the final push, and users are being forced to switch their profiles from the old style to Timeline.

    Facebook’s not doing it all at once, however. They’re not setting a big deadline day for everyone to make the switch. Instead, they’re slowly rolling it out to everyone. Very slowly, in fact. The first mention of making Timeline mandatory came all the way back in January, when Facebook informed all users that they had about two weeks left to enjoy the old profile before they dropped the hammer on holdouts. For a few months prior to that, Timeline has been available but completely voluntary. Users had to make the switch on their own, and once they did there was no turning back.

    But the months passed, and Facebook continued to allow a good portion of users to remain Timeline-free. Facebook recently confirmed to me that everyone has their own “clock” for the mandatory Timeline switch.

    “We’ve been rolling out Timeline since January. As it rolls out, each user has a seven day review period before their own timeline is visible to their friends, so the clock will be different for everyone depending on when it rolls out to them and when they log in…”

    They also reiterated that Facebook hoped to have everyone switch over to Timeline by fall of 2012.

    So, in the past month or so, you may have noticed a friend complain here or there about receiving the Timeline switch message from Facebook. It’s been happening more and more, and the response is generally negative. That would make since, considering the people being forced over to Timeline are the ones that have held out for nearly a year.

    With all of the bitching and moaning about the big Timeline switch, we thought it would be interesting to conduct a highly unscientific study to determine just how many users there are out there who have yet to sign up for Timeline.

    What we did was simply compare people’s total number or friends to the number of friends who have signed up for Timeline. Facebook tells you the latter when you visit the About Timeline page while logged in. Our informal survey included just a few dozen samples, but it was enough to display a pretty solid trend.

    On average, 82.89% of our subjects’ friends had already signed up for Timeline. That means that just over 17% of users are still rocking the old profile. So between now and fall, Facebook has to push the Timeline to somewhere around 161.5 million users (considering Facebook has around 950 million monthly active users).

    Of course, that’s a lot of extrapolating from a survey with a very small sample size, but the percentages of Timeline-enabled friends per each subject didn’t really vary. 94% of the accounts we looked at had a percentage of friends with Timeline within 4% of the 82.89% average. Our lowest percentage was 76.5, and our highest was 86.3. It really looks like around 8 in 10 Facebook users have already signed up for Timeline.

    Facebook wants every user to be on the same page in the next few months. Resentment among these final holdouts is high, but there are also plenty of people who have stopped worrying about any privacy issues and learned to love the Timeline. As with every new Facebook feature, users are split on it. When you have nearly one billion users, you could institute a “free gold with every status update” policy and someone would bitch about it.

    But Timeline dissent is pretty futile at this point. It’s happening, and if you’re a holdout, the time is coming sooner than later.

  • Pinterest-Like Chinese Company May Sue Facebook Over Timeline

    Pinterest-Like Chinese Company May Sue Facebook Over Timeline

    The end is near for all of the Timeline holdouts out there, as Facebook has already begun the process of slowly switching every old profile-user to the new Timeline. Of course, this is causing some users to complain, as Timeline is definitely not the most popular feature that the company has ever unveiled.

    And these users might not be the only group perturbed at Facebook over the Timeline. A Chinese Company that runs a “Pinterest-style” site is contemplating a lawsuit the would purport that the Facebook founder stole the idea from their “Timeline” feature, which appeared nearly three years earlier.

    Cubic Network and founder Xiong Wanli isn’t just claiming that Facebook took the idea for Timeline from their feature, but that Mark Zuckerberg himself lifted the concept from a lecture given by Wanli at Stanford University.

    Cubic Network’s “Timeline” is described as a Pinterest-like content sharing platform that allows its members to share images and videos. Its user base is mostly Chinese.

    Cubic Network is really pushing the claim that Zuckerberg and Facebook ripped them off completely. Not only are they saying that Facebook stole the idea of Timeline from them, and implying that Zuckerberg first heard the idea as an audience member in a lecture, but they’re also saying that Facebook’s logo for their annual F8 conference looks eerily similar to L99.com’s logo (Cubic Network’s property). You may remember, F8 is where Zuckerberg first unveiled the Timeline.

    Apparently, the Chinese company has been aware of Timeline since then. They are just acting now because legal counsel has informed them that they have a case – or as MICGadget puts it, “they reminded them of something.”

    [MICGadget via Register]

  • Pregnant? Notify Your Friends With New Facebook Timeline Event

    Future mothers and fathers who wish to get the news out in a hurry – there’s now a new Facebook feature that will help you do that. Now, along with a big status update or sonogram picture, you can also add the fact that you’re “expecting a baby” to your Timeline.

    “Life Events are easy and expressive ways to mark significant moments in your life such as getting married, buying a house or traveling to new places. If you choose to, you can now share that you are expecting a baby with your friends on Facebook,” says Facebook.

    All you have to do it click the little plus icon on your Timeline and add a “life event.” Inside the Family & Relationships category, you’ll find that “expecting a baby” now joins “engagement,” “marriage,” “new child,” “new pet,” “loss of a loved one,” and many more as possible event options.

    Not only will the new event appear on your Timeline, but it will also appear as a reminder to your friends on the top right corner of their home page (where the birthdays are displayed). Last month, Facebook added engagements and wedding reminders to that section.

    And it looks like Facebook is continuing to spruce up the options for Timeline as they begin the final push of their new profile format to all users.

  • Has Facebook Begun The Final Timeline Push? [UPDATED]

    Facebook recently said that the final Timeline push is coming, and every user will be forced to switch by fall. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Facebook has said the end was near for old profile holdouts. The first time we heard talk of mandatory Timeline for all users was all the way back in January. At that time, Facebook told users that they had about two weeks to get everything in order before their Timeline went live.

    But, as we now know, Facebook didn’t push Timeline to everyone.

    Just last week, however, Facebook said that the recent upgrades to the photo section inside Timelines was the beginning of the end for old profile users. This fall is the time, they said, and all users that have yet to switch would eventually be greeted with a message when they log in telling them that they must make the switch.

    Now, is the push already happening?

    Some users are saying that they just woke up with Timeline (and they’re not happy, although their happiness is of no consequence).

    What’s also interesting it that the users seems to be in a transitional period. They’re profile are still showing up as the old version, but hovering over their names shows on of the Timeline-inspired hovercards that Facebook unveiled back in June. Facebook gives users a week to manage their Timeline before it goes live to their friends, and it appears that their closed Timeline view is being leaked out via these hovercards.

    There’s also a report from RTN coming out of India that says users have been notified that August 13th is the date of mandatory switch.

    “However, several users in India have reported seeing messages on top of their Facebook pages that warn them that their profile will have to undergo a mandatory migration to Timeline by August 13,” says RTN.

    By and large, users are still iffy about the Timeline. However, Facebook is going to push it to everyone very soon – your opinions are moot, to put it bluntly. The only question left now is “When?”

    I’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this article accordingly.

    UPDATE: A Facebook spokeswoman tells me,

    “We’ve been rolling out Timeline since January. As it rolls out, each user has a seven day review period before their own timeline is visible to their friends, so the clock will be different for everyone depending on when it rolls out to them and when they log in…”

    She reiterates that Facebook hopes to have everyone switched over to Timeline by fall.

  • It’s Time To Stop Worrying And Learn To Love Facebook Timeline

    Your opinion of Facebook Timeline will soon be a moot point, as you’ll soon be forced to make the switch. Hate it? Loathe it? Wary of privacy implications? Soon, all of your protestations will be lost, like tears in the rain.

    That’s because this fall, Facebook will officially force every single user to abandon the old profile in favor of the new Timeline format.

    Facebook tells TechCrunch that the recent upgrade to the photo section inside Timeline is the beginning of the end for you holdouts out there. When that times comes, users still using the old profile will be greeted with a message when they login telling them that they have seven days to get their Timeline in order before it goes live.

    Have you made the switch to Timeline? What are your impressions? Let us know in the comments.

    One of the major complaints with Timeline since it went live is that it drudges up past Facebook activity, and puts it on display for all to see. Granted, that’s true – posts and events from years and years ago could see the light of day for the first time in quite some time due to Timeline. But those posts aren’t anything new, of course – you made them. They never ever truly went away, they were only made less visible by Facebook’s old profile format.

    That’s why Facebook’s giving users the 7-day grace period. During that time, users can manage which posts from their Facebook history appear on the Timeline – as well as highlight certain events. That’s about all you can do to make sure that your Timeline shares only the information you want it to share, because the switch to the Timeline doesn’t actually come with any new privacy changes to manage.

    The forced switch is a long time coming. Back in December of 2011, Facebook made the Timeline available to anyone who wanted it. And quite a few people made the switch voluntarily. About a month later, Facebook said that they would be pushing Timeline to every user “over the next few weeks.”

    “Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else see’s it,” they said.

    But the push never came. I can count a number of my friends who still sport the old school profile, and I’m sure you can too. However, they did end up making Timeline mandatory for pages in March.

    But personal profiles remained unchanged. In the time between January and today, Facebook has been making subtle changes across the site in order to promote Timeline. Last month, a new feature displayed Timeline-inspired hovercards of users names as they appeared around the site (news feed and elsewhere). A few weeks after that, new icons within the chat list began directing users to their friends’ Timelines.

    Still, some Facebook users are still wary of the Timeline. Apart from the less-common complaints about being less-than-pleased with its design and features, the biggest complaint concerns privacy. Like I said before, Timeline isn’t creating new content out of thin air. Anything that appears on a user’s Timelines was purposefully and deliberately put there at some point. I mean, you may have been really drunk when you posted that inappropriate picture back in 2009, but hey – that’s not really an excuse.

    And if you’re concerned about the things that may pop up on your Timeline under the radar, like some sort of Open Graph activity (listened to a song on Spotify, read an article on Yahoo, etc.), just remember – you had to approve those apps at some point. If you happened to do so by accident, you can always manage your apps within your Facebook settings.

    Plus there’s the Activity Log, which allows users to review and manage everything that happens on their Timeline.

    “You can adjust the privacy or delete anything you post on Facebook. If the story came from someone else (like when a friend writes on your timeline or tags you in a photo), you’ll be able to review who can see it. You can also control whether stories show on your timeline. On some stories, like posts from apps, you can report the post as spam, turn off publishing from the app or remove the app from your timeline altogether,” says Facebook.

    Despite all of this, a recent survey found that 88% of Timeline users were concerned about privacy. That’s a hefty figure – and one that should raise red flags for Facebook. Either they’re doing something wrong or people simply don’t understand everything about the Timeline (which could still be their fault, in a way).

    Personally, I like Timeline. It’s not only great for users but for businesses as well. If you take the time to clean it up and make it presentable, it’s a wonderful way to display who you are to anyone browsing your social media presence. Plus, it’s an understatement to say that the cover photo + profile picture idea is rather fun.

    But I get it, some people are still hesitant to switch to Timeline. I would suggest that you get over your initial fears and give it a try. But in reality, it doesn’t really matter in the end – come this fall you’re getting Timeline no matter how hard you protest.

    What are your concerns with Facebook Timeline? Not thinking about privacy, what do you think of the design and functionality? Will the mandatory switch to Timeline make you reassess your entire Facebook membership? Let us know in the comments.

  • New Teaser for M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth” Channels Facebook Timeline

    After blasting onto the movie scene and captivating audiences with his now-often-ridiculed plot twists, director M. Night Shyamalan has seen a pretty substantial dip is the amount of buzz his new releases generate. After blowing up the box office with hits like The Sixth Sense and Signs, and crafting a genuinely great film with Unbreakable, a string of flops shot Shyamalan’s high-flying balloon right out of the sky.

    Post 2006’s Lady in the Water, it feels like Shyamalan has fought the battle of preconceived public option with every new film, as the number of people genuinely excited about his latest pictures has dwindled with every passing year.

    But with his upcoming film After Earth, the marketing team is taking a new approach. With a just-released teaser trailer, they’ve inked the story into the ever-evolving world of Facebook, and they tell the story using Facebook’s polarizing new feature, Timeline.

    Check it out below:

    Set to release in the summer of 2013, After Earth plays out like this:

    After a crash landing, a father and son explore a planet that was evacuated by humans 1,000 years earlier.

    It stars Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith (of The Karate Kid remake fame).

    According to the teaser video, the After Earth Facebook page has just short of 2 million likes. There’s actually a real “After Earth” Facebook page, but it currently only sits at 1,800 likes.

    [via Geekosystem]

  • Facebook Timeline For Pages Slowly Rolls Out On Mobile

    It looks like pages are soon going to be able to showcase their carefully-constructed Timelines on mobile devices, as they appear to be slowly rolling out across the network.

    I haven’t seen any changes, as pages on both my iOS app and the mobile web interface still show the old profile view. But Inside Facebook has obtained confirmation from an Aussie that pages are indeed switching over to Timeline.

    The Timeline for pages on mobile mimics the design of Timeline for users on mobile, with the large cover photo at the top and the smaller profile picture st the bottom left-hand corner. Under the page name are the “likes” and “talking about this” tallies that appear on pages’ Timelines on desktop.

    Under that is a large “about” box, and under that is a giant page-wise “like” button.

    Timeline for pages on the desktop rolled out back in February, and brands have taken the opportunity to play with the format to create some pretty interesting landing pages for fans.

    Facebook told IF that “We aren’t making any changes to mobile pages today, but we’re dedicated to making the experience on mobile consistent with that on desktop soon.”

    We’ll let you know the moment we start seeing pages shift over to Timeline on mobile here in the States.

  • Facebook Continues To Make It Easier To Share Music

    Ever since Facebook unveiled their partnership with Spotify (and other Open Graph music apps), the site has become a premier destination for both sharing your musical endeavors with buddies and discovering new artist based on your buddies’ posts.

    Back in April, Facebook added a “Listen” button to artists’ Timelines that makes it much easier to browse through their playlists and hear what they have to offer. Clicking the “Listen” button opens up whatever music app that a user most commonly uses, which in most cases happens to be Spotify.

    And now, Facebook is making it even easier to interact with artists and their songs with the addition of some new Timeline features.

    Now appearing on some artists’ Timelines is a “Music” button, which is loated right next to the “Post” and “Photo/Video” options near the top of the Timeline content:

    Facebook share music on pages

    There, you can search the artist’s tracks on Spotify:

    And even add a message about the song before you post it to the artist’s page:

    You post will appear in a box on the right hand side of the Timeline that says “recent posts by others” and will also appear on the main Timeline if you select “posts by others” in the filtering options. Inside Facebook points out that this new feature is only available for artists that allow users to post on their Timelines, like Mumford & Sons. Radiohead, for instance, doesn’t allow such posts and therefore has no “Music” option on their Timeline.

    Not only that, but selecting the “post by other” filter on the top of the Timeline now displays two boxes that detail other Open Graph interactions associated with the particular artist. One box details relevant videos from sources like VEVO, Metacafe, and MySpace. The other shows top news from sources like Yahoo!.

    You may also remember that Facebook has been testing a “Share Music” button at the top of users’ News Feeds. With that button, users can share a song to their own Timelines (and their friends’ News Feeds) with Spotify and the like instead of having to post a link from YouTube. That feature continues to be seen by a small percentage of users.

  • Facebook Pushes The Still-Optional Timeline In Chat

    Is everybody enjoying Facebook Timeline? No regrets? Have you even switched your old profile page over to Timeline?

    Despite saying months ago that the Timeline would soon become mandatory for all users, Facebook has yet to pull the trigger and force users to adopt the still-controversial feature. Although my informal poll of friends suggests that a majority of people have switched voluntarily, there are still a few holdouts who, through laziness or stubbornness, still rock the old school profile.

    Nevertheless, Facebook has begun to direct users to their friends’ Timelines in a new way. Now, you’ll see a new icon next to a friend’s name in your chat list on the right-hand side. It’ll appear when you hover over the name. It simply says “Go to ______’s Timeline.”

    Simple enough. And it’s just another way to get people to make a habit out of frequenting Timelines. It looks like Facebook is making a point that not everything happens within the confines of the News Feed.

    This isn’t the only recent feature that Facebook has added to promote TImeline. Last week, they unveiled business card-like Timeline hovercards that appear when you hover over a friend’s name on the News Feed.

    So, with all of this recent emphasis on directing users toward Timelines, is Facebook ever going to be ready to make it mandatory?

    Way back in January, Facebook said that everyone would be getting Timeline within “the next few weeks.” At that time, users could optionally make the switch, then take seven days to make sure they got their information straight before making it live. The decision was (and still is) optional, but final. Once you go Timeline, you can never go back.

    Then, in March, Facebook forced brand pages to switch over to Timeline (after giving them a month to prepare). But this mandate just covered pages, not user profiles.

    Now, as we near July, holdouts can still enjoy their old Facebook profiles. In terms of this new icon in chat and these holdouts, it will still say “Go to _____’s Timeline,” but it will take you to their old profile.

    There’s still a significant backlash against the Timeline from some users. Some are concerned about privacy, some don’t like the design. Other, naturally, are just pissed about any Facebook change so they have to be pissed about Timeline too.

    Let’s just say that enough people dislike the Timeline for “remove Timeline” and “go back to old profile” scams to continue to thrive.

    In the end, though, most users already have Timeline and many have no problem with it. Some (gasp) actually love it. And with every new feature Facebook unveils that showcases the Timeline, you have to think that Facebook is inching closer to forcing everyone to make the switch.

  • Have Timeline? Ask Your Doctor If Real Life Is Right For You

    I do not have genital herpes. I imagine that if I did, I would try almost anything to help my situation – even if some of the possible side effects included hallucinations, seizures, and coma. I do have Timeline, however, but unlike the prospect of genital warts, I’m not as desperate in my loathe of Timeline to risk the side effects of the treatment.

    I mean, Real Life can result in awkward social situations, sunburn, and even death. I might not want everyone knowing that I recently listened to four (yes, four) Culture Club songs on Spotify, but I don’t hate Timeline enough to try this new drug they call Real Life.

    But it’s clear that most people are now living with Timeline, and many of them wish to control the outbreaks. Fortunately for them, Real Life offers a way to lessen the sting of Facebook’s newest feature.

    This clever parody of the infamous “I have herpes” Valtrex commercials treats Facebook’s Timeline as a sexually transmitted disease.

    “Experts predict that in the next two weeks, over 500 million people will have Timeline, whether they like it or not,” says the ad. “It doesn’t matter how safe you are, you’ll get Timeline.” But these young people in the video were able to start living again with a once daily dose of Real Life. Check it out below, courtesy inwonderlandfilms.

    Earlier this year, Facebook said that they would be starting a push to equip all user with Timeline. Prior to this, switching from the old profile to Timeline was purely optional – but final. You couldn’t go back after adopting the new format. As you’re probably aware, some users still haven’t been forced to display Timeline, but that time is fast approaching. Since Facebook announced Timeline, users have complained for a variety of reasons. Of course, Facebook users tend to make noise about any big change to the network (eventually good or bad), but the negative buzz surrounding Timeline has been fervent and long-lasting.

    Some users are concerned about privacy, while others simply do not like the format. A recent survey suggests that a large majority of those who have already switched are weary of privacy implications, and a great deal of them are having buyer’s remorse. Some users are so upset by Timeline that “Remove Timeline” and “Deactivate Timeline” scams continue to pop up around the interwebs.

    Like herpes, many of us will soon have Timeline. Unlike herpes, we’re not entirely sure that it’s forever. Either way, getting a healthy dose of Real Life every now and then shouldn’t hurt anyone.

    [h/t DigitalTrends]

  • Remove Facebook Timeline Scams Still Target Dissatisfied Users

    When Facebook makes a big change, a good portion of the user base freaks out for a little while. This has happened for years and if I thought myself a betting man, I’d bet that Facebook users will remain resistant to change until Facebook crumbles or the world ends, whichever comes first.

    The change over to the Timeline has been no different, and many users have expressed their disapproval for various reasons. A recent survey showed that many users (up to 88%) are concerned about their privacy with the new Timeline, and another survey suggested that an overwhelming percentage of comments surrounding the Timeline on Facebook have been negative.

    Armed with that information, it should come as no surprise that scammers are still using that dissatisfaction to prey on users, offering them the chance to rid themselves of the Facebook Timeline once and for all. These scams aren’t new in general, but Sophos’ Naked Security blog has identified a new one making the rounds.

    With this scam, users will receive a message asking if they “wanna get rid of Facebook Timeline?” It goes on to say that “it is very easy to accomplish this,” and will prompt the user to install an “addon” to eliminate the “Time Line.”

    Sophos says that clicking on the provided link will direct you to a dubious Turkish website created just a few days ago. That site asks unhappy Timeline users to install a Firefox or Chrome extension in order to extricate the Timeline from their Facebook accounts. Long story short, you probably should’t click install.

    Scammers began targeting Timeline users soon after it became available. Some users quickly opted to try out the new feature and were hit with a wave of buyer’s remorse. Many Facebook pages popped up with titles like “Deactivate Facebook Timeline Now!” and “Deactivate your FB Timeline.” They prompted users to click multiple “likes” and invite all of their friends to do it too. Of course, the end result of all of this was just spamming the hell out of your connections. Although some of the pages looked a bit less-than-legit, thousands of Facebook users participated.