We recently covered a story about Facebook’s Timeline change starting for brand pages earlier this week. Less than a week later, they are already encountering problems.
Facebook’s current timeline settings only go back to 1800, a seemingly arbitrary limit to set. The problem is not all “brands” were founded after 1800. The U.S. Army, for instance, was founded in 1775, during the American Revolution. Same for the Navy and Marine Corps.
At this time, this page only allows us to go back to 1800. However, we were ‘founded’ in 1775.
The Army’s Birthday: 14 June 1775
When the American Revolution broke out, the rebellious colonies did not possess an army in the modern sense. Rather, the revolutionaries fielded an amateur force of colonial troops, cobbled together from various New England militia companies. They had no unified chain of command, and although Artemas Ward of Massachusetts exercised authority by informal agreement, officers from other colonies were not obligated to obey his orders. The American volunteers were led, equipped, armed, paid for, and supported by the colonies from which they were raised.
In the spring of 1775, this “army” was about to confront British troops near Boston, Massachusetts. The revolutionaries had to re-organize their forces quickly if they were to stand a chance against Britain’s seasoned professionals. Recognizing the need to enlist the support of all of the American seaboard colonies, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress appealed to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to assume authority for the New England army. Reportedly, at John Adams’ request, Congress voted to “adopt” the Boston troops on June 14, although there is no written record of this decision. Also on this day, Congress resolved to form a committee “to bring in a draft of rules and regulations for the government of the Army,” and voted $2,000,000 to support the forces around Boston, and those at New York City. Moreover, Congress authorized the formation of ten companies of expert riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, which were directed to march to Boston to support the New England militia.
George Washington received his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army the next day, and formally took command at Boston on July 3, 1775.
Aside from being somewhat unpatriotic, Facebook appears to be trying to rewrite history in other ways. The spirits company Captain Morgan tried to date its company to the birth of infamous pirate Captain Morgan. Guess what, he was now born in 1800.
By February he was already pillaging.
Brands are making due with the limitations by adding their own dates and history in text comments marked 1800. At this point they really don’t have a choice, Facebook will change all pages over to timeline at the end of March. If brand pages wait until the glitch is fixed, if it is fixed, they will have no time to update the information they want about their history.
