Where you once relied on the “wall-to-wall” feature to seek out information about your friends, Facebook has taken it up a notch by making it possible for you to now “see friendships” in their virtual entirety. Displaying content and connections shared between any two given friends' friendship pages may contain photos in which they’ve been tagged, comments they have exchanged, events to which they’ve both RSVP’d, mutual friends and even mutual “likes.”

Since Facebook hasn’t made an official announcement of this new feature, it seems that only a select few have noticed this recent change in the way the website organizes its information. Admittedly so, these select few tend to be our day-to-day "stalkers."

When I myself first stumbled upon a “friendship” page, my initial reaction was mixed. After overcoming the first few seconds of panic at the sight of something unfamiliar, and then proceeding to realize just how creepy the concept was, I found myself perusing a history of shared wall posts, photos and links. The side bar displayed an option for me to “browse friendships” and soon I was led to a page documenting the evolution of my relationship online with one of my best friends.

It was at this point that Facebook began to resemble a sort of avant-guarde scrapbook for me. I told my best friend from high school, in the most endearing way possible, that my new favorite page on the Internet was the one recording our friendship—everything we have shared with each other online since we first met way back in the 9th grade. This new page has given us a walk down memory lane, as we are reminded of inside jokes and times together long past. Our friendship page is uniquely ours, and while it may not be embellished with colorful stickers or have photographs matted on fancy paper, I can see it as a page torn out of my virtual scrapbook.

So although the dominating online social network’s new “friendship” pages are inherently creepy, you have to admit that there is something compelling about them—and not just to those who pry in their free time. While Facebook has always kept tabs on the interactions between its users, this new format neatly consolidates these interactions in a way that enables us to track a relationship from start to finish. From an anthropological perspective, this is really quite remarkable.

An article written by PC World explains that with the new feature, “you can see how early flirting led to a marriage (or a breakup), look back at old photos with a longtime pal, or find out when the last time two friends hung out.”

People around the world are gradually responding to Facebook’s latest addition, and not all are comfortable with just how transparent friendships are made with the advent of these pages. Iran’s leading international daily newspaper, the Tehran Times, points out that the new tool could cause some squirming, as it “lays out in clear detail the Facebook relationship between two people, for better or worse... some scenarios might display photos of exes with their new significant others, to the dismay of former flames; or shine a spotlight on the interactions of two friends who might not wish to spell out how close their relationship is to the rest of the Facebook community.”

User privacy on Facebook has always been a concern, and with this friendship feature, exposure and access are of course rightfully called into question. To that, however, the website’s standard disclaimer still applies. Don’t put anything on Facebook that you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with everyone, take control of your privacy settings, and use the site at your own risk. Or, you know, not at all.

Above all though, if you do use Facebook, you should always be conscious of the content you put out there. While friendship pages may have charm by acting as 21st century digital versions of traditional homemade scrapbook pages, they also expedite the stalking process for diehard Facebook users. You are free to “browse friendships” to your heart’s content, but also be aware that your own are now up for public scrutiny.

Reach reporter Jenna Kovalsky here.