After an enforced absence we are finally back in the game and able to bring you our slant on the world of technology this week.
Facebook Timeline Kicks Off In New Zealand
Facebook originally announced it’s plan to integrate the Timeline feature into it’s social network back in September 2011. The beta version was said to be only a few weeks away but now here we are in December, some three months down the line and at last we are about to see what it’s all about – or those in New Zealand will anyway.
Asking what Timeline is is a good question; statements from the company have included a range of excitable but vague statements;
- “the evolution of your profile”
- “a place that you are proud to call your home”
- “Timeline will revolutionize user’s profiles”
- “Timeline is wider and more visual than the existing profiles”
So that’s not really that clear then; delve a bit deeper and one can discover a few more details which add up to what could be described as a beefed up user profile.
Timeline’s kick off comes in the wake of Facebook’s acquisition of Gowalla, a location based, social app. provider in the manner of Foursquare which was it’s major rival before the takeover. Whether Gowalla’s technology is built into the new development remains to be seen. We predict some disappointment if all it turns out to be is some sort of calendar feature as illustrated in the screenshot below – its a nice idea but hardly groundbreaking.
Facebook Timeline beta
Facebook has had good reason recently to want to up it’s game or, to use another metaphor, keep it’s eye on the ball. While Google+ may not be raking in millions of users from Facebook, it’s there and funded by the bottomless pockets of Google. It’s not going to be disappearing anytime soon and this battle of the social networks will ultimately be good for consumers; innovation by both parties and the acquisition of enterprising small businesses will serve to keep both social networks on their toes.