diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2715890..49f700f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,27 @@ To get meaningful uptime information bird has to be configured this way:
 timeformat protocol "%s";
 ```
 
+## Metric formats
+In version 1.0 a new metric format was added. 
+To prevent a breaking change the new format is optional and can be enabled by using the ```-format.new``` flag.
+The new format handles protocols more generic and allows a better query structure.
+
+This is a short example of the different formats:
+
+### old format
+```
+bgp4_session_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1"} 600000
+bgp6_session_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1"} 50000
+ospfv3_running{name="ospf1"} 1
+```
+
+### new format
+```
+bird_protocol_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1",proto="BGP",ip_version="4"} 600000
+bird_protocol_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1",proto="BGP",ip_version="6"} 50000
+bird_ospfv3_running{name="ospf1"} 1
+```
+
 ### Default Port
 In version 0.7.1 the default port changed to 9324 since port 9200 is the default port of elasticsearch. The new port is now registered in the default port allocation list (https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/wiki/Default-port-allocations)
 
@@ -24,6 +45,11 @@ In version 0.8 communication to bird changed to sockets. The default socket path
 go get -u github.com/czerwonk/bird_exporter
 ```
 
+## Usage
+```
+bird_exporter -format.new=true
+```
+
 ## Features
 * BGP session state
 * imported / exported / filtered prefix counts / route state changes (BGP, OSPF, Kernel, Static, Device, Direct)
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index bed2a7b..8d949b5 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@ var (
 	bird6Socket   = flag.String("bird.socket6", "/var/run/bird6.ctl", "Socket to communicate with bird6 routing daemon")
 	birdEnabled   = flag.Bool("bird.ipv4", true, "Get protocols from bird")
 	bird6Enabled  = flag.Bool("bird.ipv6", true, "Get protocols from bird6")
-	newFormat     = flag.Bool("use-new-format", false, "New metric format (more convinient / generic)")
-	enableBgp = flag.Bool("enable-bgp", true, "Enables metrics for protocol BGP")
-	enableOspf = flag.Bool("enable-ospf", true, "Enables metrics for protocol OSPF")
-	enableKernel = flag.Bool("enable-kernel", true, "Enables metrics for protocol kernel")
-	enableStatic = flag.Bool("enable-static", true, "Enables metrics for protocol static")
-	enableDevice = flag.Bool("enable-device", true, "Enables metrics for protocol static")
-	enableDirect = flag.Bool("enable-direct", true, "Enables metrics for protocol direct")
+	newFormat     = flag.Bool("format.new", false, "New metric format (more convinient / generic)")
+	enableBgp = flag.Bool("proto.bgp", true, "Enables metrics for protocol BGP")
+	enableOspf = flag.Bool("proto.ospf", true, "Enables metrics for protocol OSPF")
+	enableKernel = flag.Bool("proto.kernel", true, "Enables metrics for protocol kernel")
+	enableStatic = flag.Bool("proto.static", true, "Enables metrics for protocol static")
+	enableDevice = flag.Bool("proto.device", true, "Enables metrics for protocol static")
+	enableDirect = flag.Bool("proto.direct", true, "Enables metrics for protocol direct")
 )
 
 func init() {