DIGITAL X

Online arm of DIGITALX magazine, the source for news and trends in technology business, gadgets, the Web, government policies, mobile, and social media. Published in Lagos, Nigeria.

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November 23rd, 9:26am 0 comments

Timelines Sued Facebook over 'Timeline' But That's Not the Only Reason Facebook Is Delaying the Highly Anticipated Feature

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On September 22, 2011 Facebook announced a radical redesign of your profile page. It was to be known as Timeline. Since that announcement, however, Facebook has shifted the public rollout of the service from October 3 to October 10, then to 17, then 23, then 31. Although a large number of 'developers' currently use the beta version of Timelines (hundreds of them having a blast with the malleable cover photos - as you can see), but no one knows exactly when Facebook Timeline will become accessible to all of the social network's more than 800 million users.

One reason for the frustrating delay is probably the copyright infringement suit filed by Timelines, Inc, a small company of five emplyees in Chicago which owns timelines.com. Timelines is contending that Timeline by Facebook may "quite possibly eliminate" its business. Actually, this case should not stop Mark Zuckerberg's Web octopus from launching Timeline since the judge refused to grant an injunction against it, but it appears Facebook takes the upstart company very seriously. Before the litigation began, the Facebook overlords had hijacked the page set up by Timelines, Inc. It only restored it after the preliminary hearing.

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Recently a judge allowed the parties in the case to shift hearing from early December to January 24 so they could properly prepare.

You may argue that Facebook's version is Timeline(s), not Timeline, and that Twitter also has a Timeline, but apparently, Timeline, Inc considers facebook a bigger threat, being a larger company and all and because Facebook's Timeline looks a lot more similar to Timelines than Twitter's. More, the US patent office considers Timeline and Timelines as the same.

But beyond the suit, Facebook isn't sure if Timelines is ready for the whole world yet. According to Sam Lessin, Facebook's product manager for Timelne, speaking to Mashable's Lance Ulanoff, switching over to Timelines may not go so smoothly because people would need to understand the concept of Timelines first. That's why the social giant is taking its time by letting first adopters spread the word first. 

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If you'd like to experience Facebook Timeline before the rest of the world, click here. Or if you use it already, please share your creative cover photos with us.

Posted by Sam Adeoye