Controversial changes to people’s profile pages on Facebook are supported by just one in ten users, a new survey has revealed.

It recently emerged that Facebook’s Timeline – which will expose people’s entire history on the site – is to become mandatory for all users.

It means that all publicly viewable messages, photographs and comments will be grouped together by date.

But the changes have proved controversial with some critics claiming the change could erode users’ privacy.

Now a survey of 4,000 Facebook users has revealed that just eight per cent said they liked the change.

The survey, which was carried out by security form Sophos, also found that 51 per cent of those polled said they were ‘worried’ by the new feature.

Just eight per cent said they would ‘get used to it’.

The Timeline feature has been voluntary up until now.

But over the next few weeks users are to be notified about the update.

They will then have just seven days to select which photos, posts and life events they want to advertise to the world.

Speaking to The Telegraph, a Facebook spokesman said the new feature will show all of your posts and activity from today back to when Facebook first started.

A spokesman added: ‘Timeline does not change any of your existing privacy settings.’

Facebook also said that an ‘activity log’ will allow people to add extra privacy settings to posts.

The new look also pairs with ‘timeline apps’, such as Spotify, which post every time people listen to a song, or eat a recipe or visit somewhere.

Mark Zuckerberg described timeline as letting you ‘tell the whole story of your life on a single page’.

The redesigned pages have a more magazine-like photo-heavy feel, with a large ‘cover photo’ at the top of the page.

On the right of the page there will be a timeline that breaks down all posts from a person’s time on Facebook and allows viewers to jump back to people’s earliest posts with a break down month-by-month.

Some were puzzled by the abrupt roll-out of the change, which is one of the biggest changes to Facebook – all the more so when paired with the new Timeline apps, such as Spotify, which posts a continuous stream of all songs listened to to your Timeline.

A user listening to Spotify on a smartphone, for instance, will default to posting every song to their Timeline for all to see.

As with all Timeline features, there are various opt-outs, but they can be fiddly to find and use.

Likewise, ebook readers such as Kobo and video services such as Netflix can post every book and film people consume to Timeline.

Many sites have published guides to how to ‘hide’ controversial content. 

When details of the plans were announced, Twitter users had mixed reactions.

This included: ‘I dont want a timeline on my Facebook – why do you force me to have one?’ and ‘I hate Facebook timeline design with a vengeance. More frippery and less function. Why are they forcing it on us?’

Many were shocked by how rapidly timeline had become compulsory.

Tech site Mashable said, ‘Facebook must know that putting a ticking clock in front of users is bound to make very few of them happy, yet here it is, stop watch in hand. Here’s my theory.

‘Timeline apps aren’t very effective without it. Conducting most of your day-to-day activities, like watching movies, sharing content, reading news, eating out, and more — that’s new. None of this has quite the same impact without Timeline.’

Daily Mail