Timeline will tell

Facebook. All of us have it. It is a wonderful way to keep us close to our friends and family no matter how near or how far they may be. Starting in 2004 in a college student's dorm room, it quickly grew and transfomed into the largest social network in the world. People were instantly hooked on the website. It was the new "drug" sweeping the nation. But, after a while, Facebook decided to change and change often, forcing us into new layouts that very few of us liked. Then, it hit Timeline.

As many of you know, this new thing called "Timeline" is sweeping over this Facebook-obsessed nation. This is a way for you to build, tear-down, organize, and reveal everything about your life that you wish your friends to know. Some of you still may not have Timeline as you have had the option to switch over, but I did not have that option, and was bummed about it.

I posted several weeks ago as my status, "If Facebook forces me into switching to Timeline, I will quickly delete my account." I said this out of fear after hearing the horror stories of people who have made the switch, and everything they had posted since joining the social network had been exposed to the public. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions and being pessimistic about it all, but I'm still not completely comfortable with it. In the past, random people have somehow found me on Facebook and sent me messages that scared me into thinking that my profile was a public viewing site. I quickly rummaged through my privacy settings and hid as much of my profile as I possibly could.

Those of you who are my friends on Facebook realize that I am not one who posts two or three statuses a day. I love to let you all in my life and show you my many adventures and my photography, but there is a line that I will not cross. When situations arise in my life, I am very careful not to post personal opinions or anger and frustation. I have done this on very rare occassions, and within good taste. I don't want people to think I am perfect. I too struggle every now and then, but that does not justify making my personal life a public discussion.

So, now that my past has been brought back to life by this new Timeline, I aim to move forward with caution, as I am tredding on rocky grounds. I love to be able to share many moments of my happy life, but will not be made into a public spectacle. Should I find that all the 800 million Facebook users can click random things on my profile such as my posts and statuses, I will quickly delete my account. Until then, I have decided to give it a try.