What is the Facebook Timeline?
The Facebook Timeline is a novel way to document your entire life online, through wall posts, photos, announcements and events. By using data already inside Facebook it acts as a kind of digital scrapbook of your life. You can rediscover moments forgotten from the past, as well as add your new experiences.
But it is not just your life since being a Facebook user – you can add things that happened before Facebook on the timeline too. It is also an exciting way to take account of what is happening around you. You can also see what others were doing and saying in the past by scrolling down to previous years. It’s a great way to see what’s happened/happening in your friends and family’s life, or perhaps observe the evolution of a specific business. With the Facebook Timeline, this is all possible and it is very neatly packaged for easy access for the information you want.
What should you do once have the Facebook Timeline?
This is ultimately a question of personal preference over how much you wish to reveal to others. You still have complete control over who sees what and when, through your privacy settings although some have raised concerns over privacy due to the detailed information contained in such pages. Nevertheless, no new information is shared. It merely brings back previous posts and organises them in a neat way for easy viewing.
Also, your privacy settings on old posts will remain. For example, a post from 4 years ago only viewable to friends will continue to be so. Much of the changes made with the Facebook Timeline seem to be of a superficial nature. The biggest change seems to be the new look and organisation of the page. The way Facebook works has not changed very much. But there are some useful features added that you might like to know about…
Features:
- Cover photos: Include a personalized image at the top of the page. The profile photo is reduced to a small square. So you might like to use your profile photo for a simple face shot, leaving the cover photo to display something more personal e.g. your family, pet, your favourite place, or your last holiday. Many people use business logo’s/branding but be careful as Facebook doesn’t allow commercial profiles so by doing this in effect you’re going against their T&C’s.
- The Activity Log: This enables you to view all your posts and activity, from first being a member to the present day. This can be used to edit your timeline. Remove things you don’t like and add new things.
- ‘Only me’: If you want the content only to be viewable by you. Use this if there is a post in your Timeline that you don’t want others to see without erasing it completely.
- Feature a post: Use this if you want to draw attention to a specific post. By making it wider stretching across both columns of your timeline, it will be much more noticeable. I tend to use this if I’ve updated my blog and want people to see it.
With the Facebook Timeline it’s quicker and easier to view posts from any period of time. You can use the sidebar (on the right hand side) to jump to specific time periods. If you click on a year, it will jump to the highlights of that year. If you then click on a month, you can see all the posts from that month. Overall Facebook Timeline makes your content much more organised, manageable and easy to navigate. It lets you keep up to date with the past, present and future affairs of others. It is also an excellent way to look back at your past experiences.
Are you using the Facebook Timeline? Or waiting until they make it mandatory?
Lilach
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41 Responses to Facebook Timeline Becomes Mandatory
I can’t remember what I posted years ago but it seems Facebook’s Timeline will make it easier for me (and unfortunately others) to find it. Not that I am ashamed by what I have posted but my views may have changed or it may not be relevant now. Is Facebook providing a way to make all your previous posts ‘private’? No, I bet they’re not.
Twitter: baywebdesigns
Thanks Sharon. Yes I too can’t remember what I posted years ago and if someone really wants to take the time and effort to go through my timeline and have a nosey then let them! I’m certainly not going through each one and changing my settings.
I tend to keep everything public anyway, I made a concious decision to do that as I want to be completely transparent and open.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach, I guess it’s better that way since Timeline is better in terms of detailing about yourself. I have enabled Timeline during its beta stage and I was able to familiarized with it more while waiting for it official launching.
P.S.
I sent something at your mail (lilach@socialable.co.uk), hope you got it.
Herbert
Herbert recently posted..Earn Additional Income Through Work-at-Home Jobs
Twitter: bxunet
Thanks Herbert:) I moved over to the timeline as soon as it became available, I much prefer it now. I think it’s a good idea to move over now rather than wait for Facebook to make you, that way it gives you the time to get used to it as well.
Thanks for your email:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach,
Really interesting post and thank you for the information. I was told in December to change over to the new timeline and I have a sort of marmite affair with it. I think it’s great to have the big image at the top and I like the new set up of the way you see my updates. I am a little unsure about sharing past years with new connections but that would be just the same as accepting them as friends!
Hannah
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Twitter: amethystpa
Thanks Hannah. I guess it’s the unknown and liking what we’re used to. We don’t like change, whether it’s for the better or not.
I’m sure the timeline is going to have the marmite approach – some people will love it whilst others hate it.
Twitter: lilachbullock
This is a Fail on Facebook. The navigation is weak at best. The Timeline is cumbersome period. Thumbs Down. Personally I’m concerned with today and tomorrow, not 3 years ago. I’d probably say of my 1800 friends maybe 30% have made the changeover. I asked a question recently via a post on FB and asked people if they liked it: about 80% didn’t. I embrace change and love it when there is improvement. It didn’t happen here, sorry FB.
Twitter: sbhsbh
Thanks Steve. I must admit I don’t and haven’t looked at any profiles with what they were doing years ago… I’m not sure who would look at this? I agree with you about the today and tomorrow aspect.
But I do like the look and feel of the new profile, I like the large image at the top and I like how I can feature a post to make it stand out on my profile.
Twitter: lilachbullock
Having briefly looked at Timeline on other profiles I found I didn’t like the layout of it. I found it rather confusing and bitty to be honest. I know some of this is to do with familiarity and not liking change, just for changes sake, which is what this seems to be to me. I wasn’t happy with the introduction of the comment feed on the right hand side and still feel it doesn’t work to the benefit of the poster. I noticed a significant drop in people commenting on things I had posted after it was introduced.
What I dislike about the introduction of the new Timeline, is the lack of choice, it will become mandatory. Why do all these changes have to be forced on those that don’t want them or for whom they don’t work well or for those who won’t feel comfortable with them. Shouldn’t there be an opt in, or opt out option?
And as previous poster mentioned, it will bring to the forefront, items on your profile that you may have forgotten about, or that you no longer want available for public consumption.
Twitter: iconiccreative
Thanks Nicola. Initially I was sceptical of the timeline but I quickly adapted and prefer it now.
I don’t have a problem with things I posted years ago… I’ve always made them public so if people want to waste their time by shifting back through my life let them as far I’m concerned!
Twitter: lilachbullock
I’m waiting for it to become mandatory at this point. I have a lot of other things on my to-do list that are more important than the timeline. I’m not a fan of it and always find it confusing when I’m looking at someone else’s timeline.
I do need to put some thought into the large picture that I will add, I haven’t thought about that yet!
Twitter: growwithstacy
Thanks Stacy. To be honest apart from finding a nice picture to add to your “banner” you don’t really have to do a lot else. Just bear in mind when it does become mandatory… (any day now) that if you want something to stand out on your timeline that you click the resize button (it was called feature and they’ve recently changed the name!).
Twitter: lilachbullock
I set up my timeline a couple of weeks ago – looks good, though the set up makes it a little difficult to follow all the different sections. Anyway, it is what it is – which is pretty much my philosophy about Facebook in general. Admittedly, I’m now working on building up my Google+ presense so haven’t been spending much time on FB.
Twitter: marquitaherald
Thanks Marquita:) Yes I’m also spending more time on Google + too (as well as Facebook).
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach, Don’t you have concerns that these posts might fall into the wrong hands? I am not wild about giving someone my history. Giving an unscrupulous person too many details…could have dreadful consequences.
Twitter: davidsneen
Thanks David. No is the honest answer. If I had any worries or concerns I would change the settings from public to private. I made a concious decision that on social media I would be very honest and have everything public, some people disagree with that (as occasionally I will show pictures of my daughter) but if you’re online and actively online then I think you either make a decision to be open to the public or closed.
I find it strange that people would waste their time to look back over the years at my profile anyway and to be honest I have nothing to hide. I would never post something publicly if I didn’t want people to see it in the first place.
Twitter: lilachbullock
The new Timeline doesn’t make new things viewable to your friends that weren’t before… it only makes them easier to find. Once you post something in Social Media, it’s there forever. The new FB Timeline just makes that truth more obvious. When it comes to ALL Social Media — Twitter, Facebook, Linedin, forums, blogs, etc — don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want displayed on the front page of your local newspaper. Follow that advice and ‘security’ settings provided by the platform are nice, but not important.
Thanks Lesa, I couldn’t have put it better myself:) I don’t understand why people are suddenly obsessed with people seeing everything, they’re not going to see anything they couldn’t or didn’t see before…:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
I actually hate the new timeline. As usual the previous design was a lot easier to read. or maybe I am just getting old so it takes me time to get used to changes.. sigh.
I still haven’t changed my profile to it, and now I need a really good image for the big image. Do you have a good place where I can find something that I can use?
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Thanks Hezi. I just used a picture of me and my daughter, it’s automatically re-sized to fit across the screen. I kept my profile picture though and still use that one.
I would use a picture that means something to you rather than a random one you’ve found online.
I’m sure in time you’re grow to like the new timeline…:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
hi Lilach I have been on it for a while, but I have not actually explored the old parts of the timeline. I love that highlighted post feature, since you talked about it I just now tried it!
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Hi Lilach! I guess I’m one of those who waited until it became mandatory. This whole timeline thing can very useful if you structure it well, but the results may not please you if you don’t do it right. I suppose any time one spends on understanding how it works (instead of rushing thru it) would be entirely worthwhile — especially if you know and believe in the power of the social media. Time to get on FB and organize my timeline. Thanks for this nudge. Cheers!
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I love the facebook Timeline. The cover picture is good for personal branding. Your post is timely for me. I just checked what you recommended. Great post Lilach and you wrote it in details, thank you so much!
Hi Lilach
Thanks as always for setting out in a clear easy to understand way the new timeline feature – something Facebook has failed miserably to do. When I first saw the lay out whilst it looks very pretty I thoughtit was highly confusing and difficult to navigate. Reading your post has made it a lot clearer so I will give it another go – although in reality its use it of bye really isn’ it lol
Twitter: tycoonwoman
Why when they finally get people to adjust to the last round of changes do they insist on rolling out a new batch?
If I didn’t need my facebook account for my fan page I’d seriously consider shutting it down. I don’t know if I’m just getting old and cranky, but facebook is sure ticking me off lately. (Optional timeline would be fine)
Warren recently posted..Why I Recommend Aweber
Twitter: plrnetmarketing
On the cutting edge Lilach. I’ve delaying to upgrade but it’s inevitable!
John Moussan recently posted..7 Actions For A Better Financial Future!
Twitter: johnmoussan
The jury is out on this one for me…I don’t go there much because what I post is on my home page. I really don’t see any value in it except to reveal information about yourself in case someone wants to view your profile. That may be good for business, but I don’t think too many people look at the profiles anyway. Unless they are new friends you met through your blog or twitter or even facebook. Thanks for posting this Lilach!
Twitter: valheisey
Hi Lilach, I’m one of the heel diggers. I am still trying to come up with a new blog header and wanted to do a matching one (to a degree) for my new FB Header.
I’m not too keen on the way things are listed on the new timeline. I like the concept of being able to travel back in time… but I’d prefer the posts to remain in list form.
Anyway… who am I to argue. It’s a free service so I guess they can do what they want and poor lil ol me will have to go with it. I’ll get used to it one way or the other just like everyone else!
I suppose I had better get on my horse and get to it… sooner than later or FB will have done the deed and beat me to it!
Best
Jayne
Twitter: jaynekopp
I find this feature very useful for every user who’d like to have access to all news and events (old or new ones) without any difficulties
I am using timeline Lilach although I have not really got my head round it yet. I wonder for those of us that have blogs whether I ought to have similar, if not the same, images on blog and timeline. What do people here think?
Dave
Twitter: davidgsharp
Hi Lilach,
I’m yet to use facebook timeline and like you said whether I like it or not I’d still use it.
Personally I just dont like the fact that my screen is covered that much but I guess I’d come to eventually accept it.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Tosin
Twitter: thowsyne
It’ll be interesting to see how the ones that were resistant to it respond. Will they like it or not? Thanks for the tip on the featured post. I didn’t know about it. Thanks Lilach!
Duke Romkey recently posted..Would Shark Tank Invest In Your Business?
Twitter: dukeromkey
Hi Lilac,
) so even though the masses are with facebook for me LinkedIn or even Google+ lately are much better social networks…
I am still using the old facebook (to tell the truth I am not using facebook that much) and I have the same feelings with Warren about facebook. Most people use facebook to play games or even dating (I suppose they don’t know a better way
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Twitter: opportplanet
I actually have two profiles (shhhh
) and just switched my “personal” one to the Timeline today. I like how everything is “boxed” in but I don’t like that posts are on both sides of the screen now. I’m a linear girl 
Facebook timeline looks cool which helps to bring our past memories thanks mark giving an wonderful application
I don’t like the FB timeline. It’s just I feel like they are copying friendsters layout and the image interphase lately is much more like Google plus.
Twitter: VIGMETAL1
Facebook timeline is indeed confusing. And if this timeline was supposed to go mandatory for all the users just in 7 days after 25th Jan 2012, then how the hell still many people can have the old profile? I would like to ask this genuine doubt to Mr. Zuckerberg. Also, when there are already more than 70% people hating the timeline, isn’t is self sufficient for Facebook developers to come up with at least a substitute option for the timeline? Please address it Mr. Zuckerberg.
Twitter: affykumar
I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the timeline. All the Facebook changes before I manage to get used to it after a while but I still don’t like the timeline feature. Having said that I didn’t know about some features mentioned here either. Didn’t knew about the features post feature, will definitely give that a try.
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Twitter: rumblinglankan
I do like facebook timeline you can go back to all your post from years ago. I think that fb will change the layout again
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