Tips to Make the Transition to Timeline

Since timeline became available worldwide several months ago, hundreds of millions of people have been using it to tell the stories of their lives. But if you still haven't gotten timeline, or need some help getting started, here are some tips to make the transition a little easier:

Pick a one-of-a-kind cover photo

If you were to write a book on your life, what would the cover be? With timeline, you can showcase your choice with your cover photo. This image fills the space at the top of your timeline and should be something that represents who you are at any point in time. It is the first thing people see when they go to your timeline. Whether it's a photo from your recent trip with good friends, a special wedding picture, or a great landscape shot that you took of one of your favorite places, you can change your cover as often as you want to reflect what's most important to you. Just hover over your cover photo and in the lower right hand corner you'll see a 'Change Cover' button pop up and from there you can choose a new cover photo from one of your Facebook photos, upload a photo, reposition the photo or remove it.

Go back in time

With the old profile, it was pretty hard to go back in time and see posts from your past. You may have even forgotten what some of those posts actually are. Using the slider on the upper right hand side of timeline, you can easily scroll back through the years and revisit old posts and photos from the past.

Showcase important life moments

We all have moments in our life that stand out in our minds as great milestones or a moment we never want to forget: graduating from high school or college, buying a new house, or having a baby. It could even be taking up a new hobby, completing volunteer work or quitting a longtime vice. You can add these events to your timeline using the Life Event field on your composer. Instead of typing a status update, simply select "Life Event" and decide what moment you want to share. You'll also never miss hearing about a friend expecting a child or having a baby as these important moments will show up on your homepage under celebrations (where you see birthdays). Other celebrations that appear here are you friends' engagements and marriages.

Super-size your photos

In addition to a great cover photo, you can also highlight photos that are important to you. If there's a particular photo you've taken or are tagged in that you love, just click the star icon in the top right-hand corner of the post on your timeline to highlight it and make it twice the size. This will catch your friends' eyes as they scroll through your timeline so they can see the things you care about. Additionally, if you click on Photos just below your cover photo on timeline, you will see all the photos of you, including all the photos you've uploaded and your albums. On this page you can also highlight the photos you love by clicking the star in the upper right hand corner and they will appear larger.

Add apps

Like to run? Pin? Read? Listen to music? Add apps to your timeline. Apps give your friends an idea about all the other things you care about in life that you might not normally use Facebook to tell them. Going out for a long run? Let your friends cheer you on while you run with the Nike+ app. Like fantasizing about your future home décor or enjoy DIY projects? Add Pinterest as a timeline app and let your friends see your tastes through the boards and pins you've created. Maybe you're a bookworm and love to read books old and new. With the Goodreads app, you can add reviews on the books you've read, list the books you want to read to your timeline so your friends can give their input on your book tastes and get recommendations from you. Discover apps to add to your timeline in Facebook's App Center.

 

Comments

[KPinSEA]

11:11 PM on 08/27/2012

Even simpler strategy: now that the change has been forced upon me as you follow the grand AOL social networking tradition of fixing what wasn't broken, I have stopped posting any personal content on Facebook, and it all goes to my blog.

[Konnie]

12:23 PM on 08/25/2012

i used to be able to keep the public from accessing my page thru the privacy setting. there was actually a thing to click to see what my page looked like to strangers. is that still in place? how can i be sure.

[mjredder]

12:11 PM on 08/25/2012

Groan. Just admit that Timeline is not the magical transformation that was promised and give people the option to switch back.

[queenie543MAY]

01:17 AM on 08/25/2012

I have been banned twice from face book, the reason given was that i was making friends i did not know, but i only had at the last ban 30 friends, they were recommended by another friend, i.e. hairdressers, manicurists, cake makers, and some where friends of friends, i am disabled and live in a one bedroomed flat, and most of my friends that send Christmas cards, have moved, divorced, died, etc, and so my friends were their children for most part, my friends, even my ex husband who comes to help 3 times a week doesnt even text,, and i got messages from friends children who, like mine, are now past 40yrs old. Also i looked up a few people on face book and there was one woman had 4,434 friends, i was given a London telephone number, which at £1.33 a minute was dear on my pension, 20 minutes later and the man i spoke to didnt help very much, if at all,i only have five on my list now, and am frightened to ask or allow anyone to be my friend, and my children dont like the facebook name, as in the Jeremy Kyle show, who gets people on the show, who then say, "You said this" You said that"and then descend into a brawl, so i just want the truth,if you please.

[mujiijum]

02:07 AM on 08/25/2012

it's a tough situation because facebook is really based on your real life friends and family so most of the time people are very skeptical about who they meet. Also people often do not have long and meaningful conversations with each other much less with a stranger. It's all about your own life and what you share with friends and staying in touch with them so making new friends is very difficult. Years ago, before facebook came along I was able to go into America Online (AOL) chatrooms and talk to like minded people and chit chat. I believe that still continues today. I was even able to add few of them on facebook after speaking to each other for so many years on AOL. You might want to try that.

[queenie543MAY]

08:32 AM on 08/25/2012

i am 65 never spoke much to anyone when younger, now through poor health and stuck in flat with some nice people, when i phone bank,gas,electric,tv peeps, there is someone who likes to talk and laugh, which makes me laugh,and i am a natterer now, but if i think i have something important to say,and its not harming anyone, then i think its a free country, and how lucky we are that we are free, it must be terrible to live in a country where woman cannot even show their faces,let alone have a point of view about anything. But i do not want 4324 friends that i have seen people actually have, i would prefer to have quality than quantity, or be bitchy or nasty to anyone, i wish there were more of my old friends and relations on here, but they dont even text, let alone buy a computer, so there children who grew up with mine who now are late 40s or 50s, where did the time go. so scrabble is okay, and i play the song game, and order food, i do not think it was about having 30 friends, it was a comment i made about another countrys politics.Strange because i thought they had freedom of speech,i will stick to britain to moan about if i feel like it, or just get my knitting out,