Every few months my Facebook feed gets inundated by status updates that are all fairly similar to: ‘Dang you Facebook why have you changed everything I know and love’ in regards to new features or layouts forced upon the hundreds of billions of users worldwide. Last week, that magical time came around again, and while I had to endure the same statuses and adjust to some tweaked features, what separated ‘new’ from ‘innovative’ in terms of this newfangled Facebook were the novel features announced at the F8 conference.

For those unaware, F8 is the annual Facebook developers conference in which major changes and updates are announced. This year, Andy Samberg opened with a round of impersonations of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, Jesse Eisenberg and Mark Wahlberg, after which Zuckerberg took the reins and dove right into the keynote address.

A week later, users may still be cursing the all-mighty Zuckerberg for the new Facebook layouts, but developers and designers worldwide are diving into the new features and their seemingly endless possibilities with fervor.

Arguably the most well-received segment of the keynote was the announcement of Timeline, best explained as an online, digital compilation of every scrapbook, home video and diary entry that a user should choose to enter. It can effectively chronicle the entire life of a person, from birth to death, and every transitive moment in between, elegantly strung together in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Zuckerberg introduced Timeline as: ‘All your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are.’

Timeline is not yet available to the general public but fear not, you digital fiends. In the near future, you can document your entire lives, too, as it is expected to roll out to all users during the next few weeks.

Another new feature unveiled at the F8 is the Open Graph, a much more personal, in-depth and informative version of ‘likes’ and status updates. Zuckerberg referred to it as an ‘evolving language.’ I refer to it as ‘fun with verbs,’ reminiscent of the 1990s Nickelodeon campaign of ‘Verb, it’s what you do!’

This update turns Facebook into a conversation. You can ‘watch’ a movie, ‘listen’ to a song or ‘cook’ a meal.

As the conference continued, the word ‘serendipitous’ was thrown around lightly as Zuckerberg discussed how digital awareness would alert you to otherwise mundane coincidences, such as you and your friend listening to the same song at the same time. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said its new partnership with Facebook would expand its horizons (not to mention user base), and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings claimed the partnership would enhance its user experience. Amid this, the underlying consumerist nature and worrisome lack of security for Facebook users emerged to the forefront.

The fact of the matter is, companies want this information so that likely consumers can better be identified. The notion of a Timeline detailing your life and a list of things you’ve cooked and read and watched will identify you, not as a person, but as a dollar sign. And the security surrounding this information is confusingly inexplicable enough to lose sleep.

As intrusive as this new wave of internet interconnectivity and interaction may be, its potential to enhance lives remains untarnished. As this generation ages, its progeny may come to learn of their childhoods not through poorly pasted scrapbooks and incomplete mementos. They will have digital, beautiful and complete renderings of the life of a person in a format never before fathomable.

At the end of the day, the value of such a service and the way in which it can improve on lives may not be enough to compensate for the fact that it won’t tell me when, why and how my personal information is being shared. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still really nifty.

Jessica Smith is a senior information management and technology and television, radio and film dual major. Her column appears every Tuesday. She can be reached at [email protected]

Published on September 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm