The inevitable has happened: Facebook’s Timeline is rolling out, want it or not.  Last week, when I wrote about Facebook unveiling their Timeline Apps, I also mentioned that the Timeline will be a mandatory update and yesterday, Facebook’s Timeline Engineer Paul McDonald, updated his blog post regarding the Timeline roll out.

Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story. 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 sees it.

You can learn more about these new features by taking the quick tour available at the top of your timeline. If you want to get timeline now, go to the Introducing Timeline page and click “Get Timeline.” Or you can wait until you see an announcement at the top of your home page.

So I suggest you try it out now and see if there are some things you want to hide and hide it while you still can before Facebook turns your world upside down. (Muhahahahaha! <— Facebook’s evil laugh).

Facebook’s Future Timeline: Google War, IPO and More

Aside from the mandatory roll out, Facebook is quite busy with their war against Google, upcoming IPO and a rumored Anonymous attack.

Facebook vs. Google

Facebook, along with Twitter and other social networking sites, are out to get Google’s Share Plus Your World with the Don’t Be Evil bookmarklet.  It supposedly gives you more relevant social search results.  You see, Google decided to include Google+ data in their search results, which pissed off other social networking sites because they feel their content is more relevant that G+.

IPO

Facebook is gearing up for their initial public offering, so they suspended trading of shares in secondary markets for three days, from today until January 27th.  According to PrivCo chief executive Sam Hamade, companies halt trading ahead of a filing to ensure that investors can’t buy or sell until all information has been made public.

“Facebook and companies who do this don’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits related to the fact that some people had it before others and were able to trade on it,” said Hamadeh.  “The best way to protect yourself is to have no one able to trade.”

Buy and sell orders can still be made but transactions won’t be processed by Facebook’s attorneys at Fenwick & West LLC until the suspension has been lifted.   People familiar with the matter refused to be identified, since details about secondary transactions are kept private.

Anonymous Denies Threat

After the Megaupload shutdown and hackers taking down government sites as a form of protest, a new YouTube video from AnonymousVoice777 surfaced the web claiming that they are Anonymous and are inviting people to join their worldwide internet blackout.  The video stated that they will be targeting Facebook.

Here’s an excerpt from the video courtesy of ZDNet, as the video is no longer available for viewing.

“While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from congress, this does not guarantee that our internet rights will be upheld. For those unaware, there is still ACTA or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. You. The public. I have a proposal. Would you like to become part of the greatest internet protest and first official cyber war? Anonymous is in the hands of us all. It is time to take action. Operation global blackout is ongoing and everyone can be a part of it. In the description I have provided everything you will need. Our first target… Facebook… While it is true that facebook has at least 60,000 servers… It is still possible to bring it down… Anonymous needs the help of the people… The people who want to take a stand against the government… The people who want to make a difference… This is what we must do…”

Here’s the thing; Facebook is not a supporter of SOPA or PIPA, so why would Anonymous target Facebook?  And besides, AnonOps already tweeted, twice, that they will not be attacking Facebook.

This could be a case of usurped identity.  Anonymous is a movement anyone can join, and because individual identities are hidden it’s difficult to tell who’s legitimate and who’s looking for some propaganda under the Anonymous banner.  Previous threats against Facebook have failed to pan out, so it’s not surprising this one didn’t raise too many flags either.

On a lighter note, I came across this clip that depicts how Facebook screws your life.  Enjoy!  ;)