Facebook's
Timeline feature is now available worldwide, allowing users to tell their
entire life stories through the social network.
Facebook announced Timeline in September,
but rolled the feature out slowly. If you're just getting Timeline now, or want
to speed up the switch from your existing profile, here's what you need to
know.
What are Timelines?
Timelines are Facebook's attempt to tell the story of your
life, based on your social networking activity. Presented in reverse
chronological order, your Timeline shows status updates, photos, life events,
and new friends.
Timelines also summarize your activity from Facebook apps.
For instance, if you've allowed Spotify to automatically tell Facebook what
songs you're listening to, a summary of your tastes in music will appear in the
Timeline. Or if you've been using Nike+ GPS, your friends will be able to see
where you've been running.
How to tweak Timeline
information
Of course, some Facebook activity is best forgotten. To
remove a status update, photo, or other activity from your Timeline, float your
cursor over the top-right corner of the update, click the pencil icon, then
select "Hide from Timeline."
Adding information to the Timeline is also pretty simple.
Just hover your cursor over the line down the center of the page, so it turns
into a "+" icon, then click on the kind of update you want to add.
You can add events all the way back to your birth, making for a complete life
story.
If you really like something that's on your Timeline, you
can blow it up into a feature-size post by hovering over the update and
clicking the star icon.
Controlling who sees what
Your existing privacy
settings will still apply in your Timeline. For example, if only friends can
see photos in which you've been tagged, no one else will see those photos on
your Timeline. And if you've hidden a status update from a specific user, that
person won't see the update on your Timeline page. Use Facebook's privacy settings page to make adjustments. You can also
adjust privacy for anything you've posted, such as status updates and photos,
by clicking on the gear icon near the top of the update.
To see what your Timeline looks like to the public or to
specific users, click the gear icon on the top-right side of the page (next to
the Activity Log button), then select View As.
How to get Timelines
Head to Facebook's Introducing
Timeline page, and
click Get It Now to activate the feature. Or, you can wait to see an
announcement for Timelines at the top of your profile page.
Once you make the switch, Facebook will generate a
Timeline on its own, but won't immediately publish it. You'll have seven days
to make adjustments—say, to remove references to jobs you hated or significant
others you'd rather forget. After that, there's no going back to the old
profile.
Posts
