In The Powder Room

Have you seen The Social Network - the 2010 Oscar winning film scripted by Aaron Sorkin, dramatizing Mark Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook?  It's ain't too kind to FB's founding father - in the opening scene, Zuckerberg's girlfriend dumps him and clarifies this is not because he's a computer nerd.  She's breaking up with him because he's an asshole.  Following this moment of rejection, the film shows Zuckerberg vengefully blogging about his ex, creating a "Hot or Not"-type database featuring hacked images of female Harvard students, until eventually, Facebook is a billion-dollar global social network.

It basically paints Zuckerberg as a vengeful, backstabbing bridge-burner.  Whether The Social Network's details are based in truth or not, I am starting to believe that this picture of Zuckerberg as a vindictive little SOB may not be far off the mark. 

At this year's f8 conference, Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook's new Timeline feature, which allows you to "tell the story of your life in a single page".  So, every mundane status update, drunken photo upload, embarrassing relationship-related post, and failed attempt at being funny are all there on display for all to see in a single Facebook page.  Jeepers.

If you ever wrote a mushy, gushy post about wanting to spend the rest of your life with your college boyfriend, it will show up in your Timeline. And your current boyfriend just may see it and wonder, "She never said that about me and we've been together twice as long..."  And vice versa. 

It's been already well documented that Facebook and other social networks can have disastrous impacts on relationships. It's easy to misinterpret things on Facebook, and if you or your significant other are the jealous type... well, it's a lethal combination. I would wager that this Timeline feature is only going to heighten whatever strain Facebook has already put on relationships. 

Of course, users should rise above all this. 

The past is the past and we should spend less time social networking online and more time focusing on personal relationships, but... Facebook is evil. It has the power to plant those little seeds of doubt that otherwise would remain unseen offline. 

So what you need to do now ladies is educate yourself on how to hide your dirty little secrets from your Timeline before its schedule release on October 4.  Yes that IS today. Quick, quick!

Nothing like a computer genius with a chip on his shoulder, huh?