Facebook wants to become our repository for nostalgia, or as Mark Zuckerberg says, the ‘story of your life’. And soon your Facebook page will resemble the DNA of your past. That is, once you get the new profile and Timeline (mine is above).
But is that where you want your life story written and displayed, all wrapped up in a nice neat package – that changes its wrapping rules all the time?
I don’t.
Let’s consider it from another perspective. Say Facebook is a mall – a place you visit all the time. You’re comfortable there, know the lay of the land and it feels like a second home. One day, they offer you a locker and tell you that because you’re such a valued customer, you can store your most personal belongings at the mall while you shop… or anytime. They give you a key. But under the terms and conditions in minuscule type, they happen to mention the mall also keeps a key and can peruse your contents and share that info with the other merchants whenever it wants. How many items of value would you leave in that locker?
Facebook wasn’t always focused on personal histories. When it started, it was about immediacy (i.e. meeting girls/guys in college). And even reconnecting with long lost friends brought them forward to the present. Facebook was an existential space.
However, the changes are turning it from being in the moment into a dynamic collection of Kodak moments. Here’s a great parody video: Mad Men’s Don Draper introduces Timeline – a mashup of the Carousel presentation that shows the lure and allure of nostalgia. It’s powerful stuff. (Thanks Stephanie Smirnov.)
And as our memories become public, they’re an easy target for anyone who wants to prey on the sentimentality of days gone by.
