Facebook Removes Friend Timeline
Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 20th, 2008 7:48 PMFacebook appears to be cutting the fat on the website as of late. The most recent item to disappear from the website was Facebook gifts. It has now been hidden and you need to choose to have the application displayed in your sidebar. In the past day or so, Facebook has apparently removed the friend timeline. Will it be missed? Probably not. Apparently not enough users were actively using the feature.
Does that mean Facebook should have deleted it? I’m not sure but I’ve already received at least one or two emails from people asking why this feature has disappeared. I haven’t reached out to Facebook but I can assume that there wasn’t much demand for the feature. Additionally, if you weren’t obsessive about entering the dates that you meet people, it wasn’t really a useful tool. I have been fairly obsessive with grouping friends but I haven’t been really specific with entering the dates I met them.
The other problem is that friend grouping was by year and for many people as they meet more people thanks to social technology, there is not enough order in a yearly timeline. While I won’t be missing the lost feature, I’m sure a number of people will. Did you use this tool frequently?
(4.64 out of 5)
(4.22 out of 5)
April 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I wonder if they've demoted Gifts explicitly to 'level the playing field' between Facebook-owned and third-party apps? It was a bit 'unfair' that Gifts used to appear on the right-hand side when third-party apps can't make any use of that space.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I wonder if they’ve demoted Gifts explicitly to ‘level the playing field’ between Facebook-owned and third-party apps? It was a bit ‘unfair’ that Gifts used to appear on the right-hand side when third-party apps can’t make any use of that space.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I didnt know it exsisted 0_0 lol
P.S. Gifts were a huge ripoff. Everyone just switched to the knock-off “free gifts” app.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
oh so that what the timeline was meant to be used for.
never used the page but when i started with facebook i was one of these obsessed people who wanted to be precise at the time with my contacts when facebook gave the option e.g. if it was primary ed (Elementry to those facebook american folk) or college i whould state it same with if it were a nightclub student occounter or met on holiday in 2003 in france.
Now having 220 contacts and sometimes applications promoting maaking friends adding to these (therefore friends increase all the time)
1 good thing though all facebook application friends since the friends list feature added and privacy appeared those met through facebook 'friends' I add to the 'PrivFBApps' Friend list i made (and in privacy settings specified contact info for example i prefer this group not to ideally have access e.g. IM or landline phone
April 20th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I didnt know it exsisted 0_0 lol
P.S. Gifts were a huge ripoff. Everyone just switched to the knock-off “free gifts” app.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
oh so that what the timeline was meant to be used for.
never used the page but when i started with facebook i was one of these obsessed people who wanted to be precise at the time with my contacts when facebook gave the option e.g. if it was primary ed (Elementry to those facebook american folk) or college i whould state it same with if it were a nightclub student occounter or met on holiday in 2003 in france.
Now having 220 contacts and sometimes applications promoting maaking friends adding to these (therefore friends increase all the time)
1 good thing though all facebook application friends since the friends list feature added and privacy appeared those met through facebook ‘friends’ I add to the ‘PrivFBApps’ Friend list i made (and in privacy settings specified contact info for example i prefer this group not to ideally have access e.g. IM or landline phone
April 20th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Nooooo! Perhaps I'm a stickler, but this was the only reason why I actually filled out my friend details to a “T”. I actually enjoyed being able to see who I've met from year to year…
April 21st, 2008 at 12:13 am
Nooooo! Perhaps I’m a stickler, but this was the only reason why I actually filled out my friend details to a “T”. I actually enjoyed being able to see who I’ve met from year to year…
April 21st, 2008 at 3:21 am
i used it all the time
April 21st, 2008 at 4:16 am
Oh no, I really loved the timeline, even if I didn't watch it often I really thought it was fun.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:21 am
i used it all the time
April 21st, 2008 at 5:16 am
Oh no, I really loved the timeline, even if I didn’t watch it often I really thought it was fun.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:06 am
Yes!!!! Why they remove it?
I was one that keep track using the dates
April 21st, 2008 at 10:06 am
Yes!!!! Why they remove it?
I was one that keep track using the dates
April 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
First to the lowest part of the “more” section of friends, where almost nobody could see it, and then offline… that is how it goes, isn't it ?
With my app (attached) I have put a link to everyone's social timeline to make it more popular, yeah it was even possible to view the timeline of friends with timeline.php?id=..
What I have on the title page of it was the friend game,
that was a little quiz about who had what hobby of your friends. That is gone now as well!!!!
–> http://www.facebook.com/friend_game.php
Was definately working a few weeks before.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
First to the lowest part of the “more” section of friends, where almost nobody could see it, and then offline… that is how it goes, isn’t it ?
With my app (attached) I have put a link to everyone’s social timeline to make it more popular, yeah it was even possible to view the timeline of friends with timeline.php?id=..
What I have on the title page of it was the friend game,
that was a little quiz about who had what hobby of your friends. That is gone now as well!!!!
–> http://www.facebook.com/friend_game.php
Was definately working a few weeks before.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
[revised]
LOVED this feature.
Removing it was not the right thing to do. Promoting it was.
Since this is related… A creative way to ask for Friend Details that might have worked: While you’re talking on Facebook Chat, if it sits idle for a while, ask the user what year they met the person they are chatting with, and if they respond, ask them how they met… something like that.
May 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
[revised]
LOVED this feature.
Removing it was not the right thing to do. Promoting it was.
Since this is related… A creative way to ask for Friend Details that might have worked: While you’re talking on Facebook Chat, if it sits idle for a while, ask the user what year they met the person they are chatting with, and if they respond, ask them how they met… something like that.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Gutted. Really used this all the time - not sure why they removed it. Was great seeing people over the last 30 years…..
May 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Gutted. Really used this all the time - not sure why they removed it. Was great seeing people over the last 30 years…..
July 30th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Argh, I used it a lot as well.. Really disappointed after entering hundreds of years - now for nothing..
July 30th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Argh, I used it a lot as well.. Really disappointed after entering hundreds of years - now for nothing..
August 4th, 2008 at 3:45 am
never got to use it…weird that the guy above me used Z before i could. these comments were dead for 2 months
August 4th, 2008 at 4:45 am
never got to use it…weird that the guy above me used Z before i could. these comments were dead for 2 months
August 28th, 2008 at 10:44 am
i want it back!!
September 24th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I used it regularly…wish the timeline would come back!
September 25th, 2008 at 2:28 am
I've been desperately searching the timeline and wondering where they hid it.
Now everybody: Timeline back! Timeline back!
October 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Being bruttaly honest i dont like facebook!
October 19th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Awww… I really miss it! Nice to look through it and remember when you met people and how.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:22 am
That’s what makes me so angry! It’s not supposed to be used frequently. It’s a nice little morsel of happiness that you reach for in that small, seemingly unimportant moment in which it is needed most. How much energy would it have required to keep it going? That’s the question.