Beware of Clicking Here if You Hate Facebook’s Timeline

By
Holly Doering
– January 5, 2012Posted in: Alerts/Scams, National

facebook 150x150 Beware of Clicking Here if You Hate Facebooks Timeline One of my friends now has a strange-looking Facebook profile. It uses this “Timeline” thing and her layout is more horizontal than vertical. Gone is the single column of wall posts with updates. And instead of a series of small pictures at the top, there is one big panoramic. She likes the changes, but I don’t. I really don’t.

I’ll admit, I can be a crusty curmudgeon at the advanced age of 42. Nothing irritates me more than when the grocery store moves everything around, forcing me to search for what I need. (I used to know where it was!) Ditto new software programs that seem to make changes just to make changes. Looks like I’m not alone.

Brittany Darwell of Inside Facebook found 16 separate pages on how to remove or disable Timeline and they have gathered a collective 71,000 likes. Unfortunately, they’re all scams! Some ask you to “like” a bunch of pages in order to get rid of Timeline. Others want you to download extensions for your browser.

The bad news: Downloading anything could be dangerous. And, according to Darwell and to Drew Olanoff at The Next Web, there is no way to disable Timeline once you’ve said yes to trying it. The new system will become mandatory for all users soon.

What Is Timeline and Why Do We Have to Have It?

I have to admit, that the company’s Timeline promo page makes it sound really great. According to FB, 896,119 people have “liked” this page. The idea is for it to “tell your story” better than the site does now. However, I’m not keen on spending seven days getting my new profile page up to speed.

According to Andy Sparks of Gizmodo.com, the new profiles will be more dynamic and less static. Applications will function in a “sandbox” where you can share updates, media and interactive features. He says it will show the songs you’ve listened to most in the last month, the meals you’ve cooked in the last week, or your favorite books over the past year.  

Assuming Zuckerberg and co. are changing for a reason—improvement—and not just to change stuff, Timeline’s probably a good thing. But I know me. By the time I finally get used to and know my way around the changes, they’ll be changing them to something else. (And, I would prefer to have a choice.)

 Don’t Get Scammed

Remember, if you don’t like Timeline, don’t get burned trying to get rid of it. Tell the company how you feel. And, if you find a scam on Facebook, use the “Report Page” button at the lower left. You can also check the Facebook Security Page for posted scam warnings, or look in the Help Center to see if features can or cannot be removed.

There are reportedly 800 million Facebook users at this time so many voices have not yet been heard. What do YOU think about Timeline?

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About Holly Doering

Holly Doering has worked for the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and Montana for half a decade. Her areas of expertise include the CORE Values Program (Character, Optimism, Respect, Ethics) for Teens and Charity Review as well as writing and editing. Prior to that, she has written for two newspapers, a local magazine, and taught English at the community college. She is the proud author of a short story in ZYZZYVA literary magazine and has had good luck publishing lots of poetry. Each year she rolls up her sleeves and wades into the autumn Nanowrimo writing madness and has several unfinished novels to her credit.