Is Facebook losing its edge? As it prepares to make the biggest changes to the platform since its inception, one has to wonder if the boffins at Facebook HQ have forgotten why the MySpace alternative was created in the first place.

Facebook stole the social networking crown from the beleaguered and bloated MySpace. It did this with its mature, sleek facade; extolling the virtues of simple design in direct contrast to the inconsistent, messy, multicoloured fright-fest that was MySpace at its zenith.

So why, at its f8 developers conference, are Facebook’s developers seemingly hell bent on re-inventing the wheel? The unveiling of new features such as ‘Timeline’, which goes to great lengths to document your entire life from birth to, presumably, death are enough to set a code red alarm for those concerned about Facebook’s use of personal information.

On its official developers blog, the thousands of comments are a stew of negativity and rejection, with a light dusting of complimentary responses. Not exactly the kind of reaction Zuckerberg et al will be enthused by.

The ‘Timeline’ feature has been trailed with a video that attempts to strike the same emotional response that Google’s excruciating Chrome adverts exploited. It’s all very well and good extolling such a feature as an online document of your life, but just how practical will it be to the majority of users who use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family? Does Facebook really need to display a personal C.V of our triumphs and woes to the people we call friends?

As Facebook reaches a point where there is little room to grow its audience, the developers are realising that the real hard work starts here. As the irregular and oft-poorly communicated updates continue to roll out, they are in danger of upsetting the apple cart. And we all know what happened when the last king of social networking overestimated what its users wanted from it.

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