EDIT: Disregard. Apparently they're just older wall posts (snopes says so), although I could have sworn some of those were private. But what can I say? It's early. I'm tired. I'm usually better than this.
Just saw a friend post this:
"Dear Facebookers - Your private inbox messages are now visible for all to see, from 2010 and earlier! This could get VERY awkward, very quickly...this is a new change from Facebook as of yesterday. Don't believe me? Read your timeline from those years...yikes! They look like wall posts.....they are not! (UPDATE -Apparently, like all other things on FB, people are hit at different times, so your timeline might not be affected yet.)
There's an easy fix--when you're in your own timeline, just click on the year on the right (2007, 2008, 2009) and you'll see a box with a bunch of friends' messages and a header that says 89 people have written on so and so's timeline--hover over the right until you see the pencil, click and select hide from timeline. Do that for each year. BOTH parties have to delete or it will show so post and tell your friends!
And if you're my friend, please do this to keep my stuff private - Thanks."
At first I was like, "What? No way that could happen; it's just like those rumors that "OMG there gonna charge u 4 usin facebook!!!!" ... no way it's real."
But then I checked my timeline and a few friends' timelines from 2010 and before. And um. Yeah, it's real.
So if you need to do a little housekeeping to hide things that were supposed to remain private, please do, and ask your friends to do the same so that your private messages to them aren't on public display to all their friends (or the entire world if they have shitty privacy settings).
