Ten Things I Have Learned About the New Facebook Timeline
On March 30, all Facebook sites were converted to the new timeline, whether you wanted it or not. Many FB users voiced their preference not to have it, but to no avail. While Facebook has been preparing us for this change for months and encouraging us to make it on our own, I waited until the last minute to do it myself. Since then, I have done a little research on the new timeline and share my findings with you.
- The new timeline is what we used to call the “wall.” It is in a two column format and others can write on it.
- Everything you have ever posted on Facebook is more accessible by year on your timeline.
- If you have concerns about who is seeing what on your timeline, you can go to the Privacy Settings ( click the down arrow next to Home and select Privacy Settings) to make sure that they are what you want. It is good to do this periodically anyway as Facebook keeps changing.
- You can go back through your old posts and remove them or change the audience who can view them. Select a post. With your mouse, hover over the upper right hand corner of the post and select Highlight, Edit or Remove.
- The new timeline has three main components: cover page, my stories and apps.
- The cover page is just a large header at the top of your timeline. You can upload a photo to the space. Everyone sees your cover. Facebook suggests that you select a photo that is significant to you, but you can also find many free artistic covers with a search on Google. I chose one from this site.
- Apps are the applications you use with Facebook and you can decide who sees these. I am the only one who sees my apps.
- If you are not sure what others are seeing on your timeline, you can still view your site as one of your friends or as the public. Just click the down arrow next to activity log which appears below your Facebook cover page. Click on “View as…” You may select public or insert a friend’s name.
- Facebook has provided information on how to get the most out of the new timeline and you can find that here .
- The new timeline will take some getting used to, but what else is new?
What is your experience with the new timeline? Please share any tips you have picked up. Thank you very much!
Have a blessed Holy Week and a very Happy Easter! My next post will be April 17.
Comments (5)
Kristi
April 3, 2012 at 8:37 am
Thanks for the 10 tips, Sr Susan- all good reminders when ppl stop being frustrated and work with it! I actually used a screen shot of our parish timeline in our bulletin with the headline “Come check out our new Timeline”. It’s gotten us a few more likes.
Therese Boucher
April 3, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Keep in mind that facebook will slice a narrow portion out of your photo. If you like to work with a photo editting program to control what is seen, the size you will need is 6 in x 2.4 in.
Marika Donders
April 4, 2012 at 10:20 am
One thing I found useful is to add social fixer to my browser (socialfixer.com). It allows you to change the layout and other elements. For example, the one thing I hated about the timeline was the two column layout and it is one of the things you can change with social fixer.
Susan Timoney
April 4, 2012 at 11:28 am
I noticed that it makes your friends much more visible and I am wondering for our archdiocesan page, how comfortable some of our “friends” will be with their profile picture more easily seen.
Marc Cardaronella
April 4, 2012 at 12:55 pm
I like the fact that you can hide old stuff. That’s a pretty good feature. The cover image is very cool visually, but it’s a bit of a pain to figure out what to put in there. The two column thing is a little confusing too.
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