Hide Facebook Timeline features if you hate them

Not everyone loves Timeline

Facebook is like most social networks in that it is constantly changing and evolving, and when using the site more for business than personal use, keeping up with changes can be irritating. While AGBeat has been vocal about our enthusiasm for the new Facebook Timeline features, not even our entire team is on the same page.

Advocates of the new changes may see critics as unwilling to embrace change, but many dislike the new features not only because functionality has changed, but because the changes are not minor and simple to overlook – they are massive and widespread and some people simply do not care about the new features. Critics of the Facebook Timeline features also point to what they call non-intuitive design and others note that the features lend to a privacy trap wherein users give even more private data than previously garnered by the social network giant.

The answer:

So what do you do when you do not like or want the new Facebook Timeline? It is rolling out to all users as a mandatory feature, after all, so how can it be combated? SocialFixer, formerly known as “Better Facebook” which is a simple browser extension that allows any user to strip many (not all) of the new Facebook Timeline features.

Users can simply install the app, and a wrench icon will appear next to the log in credentials on Facebook at the next login. Lifehacker.com advises users to click the icon, choose “social fixer options,” and uncheck all categories to focus on the “Timeline” section of the extension’s options. Check the bottom four boxes: “Display posts in a single column”, “Hide cover photos”, “Hide the friends box”, and “Hide maps of check-ins,” and save.

This removes the cover photo, friends box, maps box and two column view to be more visually appealing and less cluttered which can be undone at any time by uninstalling the extension or editing the settings.

Roughly a year ago, Facebook rolled out new features and functions, which were also answered with ways to cheat your way into reverting to the old Facebook, which is exactly what the extension above seeks to do. No one can go back to the early days of Facebook, but it can at least look like you have.