Have you seen the Facebook Timeline yet? Some people have already started using the Timeline, but soon everyone will be using the Timeline. It will replace your current Facebook Wall and Profile page. The Timeline will not affect your News Feed, only your personal page. Don’t want the Facebook Timeline? Too bad, so sad, you don’t have a choice.
Once you activate your Facebook Timeline, you have 7 days to setup your timeline before anyone else can see it. Use this time to pick out what you want to appear in your timeline. Its your timeline, so you choose what shows up and what doesn’t.
To get the Timeline, click here and click on the Get Timeline button at the bottom of the page. If you regularly post updates and pictures to Facebook, be prepared to be overwhelmed with your Facebook history. You will have the option of removing specific updates from your timeline if you want.
Check Your Privacy Settings
When I activated my timeline, I noticed that Facebook changed my privacy settings to make my information public despite the fact I had previously set everything to private. If you do nothing else to your Timeline, at least restrict all the posts on your Timeline to Friends only by going to your Privacy Settings – How You Connect. Change the second to last setting, Limit the Audience for Past Posts, to restrict your Timeline to Friends only. This is the fastest and easiest way to make sure your Timeline stays private to friends only. If you care to, you can go through and edit individual posts at a later date.
In your Privacy Settings, check out How Tags Work to further customize your Timeline settings. I have Timeline Review and Tag Review set to On which means I must approve posts I’ve been tagged in before they appear on my Timeline. My Maximum Timeline Visibility is set to Friends, Tag Suggestions is set to Friends, and Friends Can Check Me Into Places is set to No to give me the most control over what my friends can post about me on Facebook.
Editing Your Timeline
You can edit what shows up by using the star and pencil icon in the upper right corner of the post (they will appear when you hover on the post). Use the star/resize button to make posts larger or smaller. If a post highlights an important time in your life, you can make the post as large as possible to call attention to it. Use the pencil icon to hide posts from your Timeline (like the old softball picture from when I was 12, no one needs to see how awkward I looked then) or to change the main photo of an album.
Add A Cover Photo
On a normal Facebook page you get one profile picture, on a Facebook timeline you get a Facebook profile picture and a cover picture. The profile picture will show up in the News feed when you post to your Wall or post a comment. Your cover photo is the large photo that will appear at the top of your timeline. Pick pictures that represent you and are appropriate. If you are just graduating college and trying to get a job, a picture of you drinking alcohol or in any other appropriate position is not the right cover or profile picture for you.
One Last Check Before You Publish
Before you publish your Timeline, make sure you go to Settings – View As to see how your Timeline appears to other people. The default view will show you how your Timeline appears to a non-Facebook friend. If you do not want to make your profile available to the public, you need to use this option to check that your information is secure. In this day and age, you are judged by your Facebook presence so make sure you are presenting the right image.
The Facebook Timeline is coming, whether we like it or not. Take the time to review your Timeline and make adjustments when necessary. If you want to learn more about the Facebook Timeline, I suggest you check out the resources below.
From Facebook: Introducing Timeline
12 Things You Should Know About the Facebook Timeline
How To Protect Your Privacy On Facebook Timeline – Without Wasting Time
5 ways to secure your Facebook profile in a post-Timeline World
About the Author
Thanks for this post, Abby! I depend on you keep me informed. What would I do without you!?! Seriously
I got your back Sarah Lynn!
HI There, with regard timeline and newsfeed, do you know why uploaded photo albums appear only in your timeline and not your newsfeed? I cannot get them to appear in the newsfeed also? Help!
Hi Holly! This is a great question. You can customize what shows up in your news feed for each friend by going to their page, hovering on the Friends button and go to Settings. From there you can pick and choose what shows up in your news feed. I think this would make a great post as I’m sure others have the same question. Thanks for the comment!
Abby,
I have a question.
I manage a FB page for my son in law.
He has a Group page and a profile page.
I was wanting to set up a shopping cart Payvment in his Group page but cannot find a way of creating it.
In his profile page the only way I could do it was by creating a page in the profile page and this was able to accept the cart.
Is it possible to create a shopping cart directly into a profile page?
I have set up his new timeline in the profile page, but he is a bit reluctant to change over,I think FB will make his mind up soon.
As this page has not been published I find I can’t add any apps to the timeline, does this need to be published before any changes can be made?
Sorry for so many questions, but I have spent many hours on this and have gotten nowhere.
Thanks
Peter
I’m not familiar with the shopping cart application on Facebook. Have you tried their help section? I’ve had good luck finding answers there in the past. If that doesn’t work, I would ask around on Twitter or submit a help ticket with Facebook. Good luck!
Hey Abby,
can you tell me how to hide my profile pic from others in the news feed when i change it? Is that possible?
Thanks a lot!
After you’ve changed your profile picture, go to your Timeline and in the upper right corner of your picture change there should be an Edit option. Click Edit and Hide from Timeline.