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You can pout and you can shout, but there's no avoiding it: You'll soon be forced to use a new profile page design — better known as the Timeline — on Facebook. It'll be alright though, because I'm here to (virtually) hold your hand through this big life change.
Woah! Wait! What is this Timeline thing?
Odds are that you've already heard about the Facebook Timeline, but let's have a quick review for the sake of those who might've been on a really long vacation or have a (dangerous) tendency to tune out Facebook-related news.
The Facebook Timeline is a new approach to the profile page. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it's a way to better present "the story of your life."
When someone looks at your Timeline, he or she will be able to see summaries of the most important events in your personal history — instead of having to scroll through years of silly status updates. You're able to feature (or hide) "Stories" — life events, images, and other details — in order to create what you feel is the best representation of your life.
Since your personal history no longer starts with the day you joined Facebook, but the date of your actual birth, you are encouraged to go back and add events which weren't previously on Facebook. Please choose what you enter with absolute care, and bear in mind that what you enter (ahem, place of birth, mother's maiden name) could be used for nefarious purposes.
While a lifelong timeline may seem convenient and logical, our own privacy-minded Helen Popkin said this may be "the ultimate Trojan horse," a way for Facebook to squeeze even more personal information out of you by posing as an unrequested but alluring feature.
Oh, and you can also augment your Timeline by using apps which track books you've read, movies you've watched, music you've listened to, and so on. (Yeah, this can get a bit creepy — so you'll probably want to fiddle with your privacy settings. More on that later.)
I don't really want this! How do I avoid it?
As I said when we started our journey down the Timeline rabbit hole: You can pout and shout as much as you want, but there's no avoiding Timeline.
As Paul McDonald, an engineering manager on the Timeline team, explained recently:
Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you'll have 7 days to preview what's there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it. ...
You can also choose to publish your timeline at any time during the review period. If you decide to wait, your timeline will go live automatically after seven days. Your new timeline will replace your profile, but all your stories and photos will still be there.
A warning whistle, a seven-day head start, and ... that's it, that's all you're getting. If anyone is trying to convince you that there's a loophole or a way to outsmart Facebook on this particular issue, odds are that he or she is trying to scam you.
Fine. I'll live with this somehow, but can I at least hold on to my privacy?
As Lifehacker's Whitson Gordon points out, the "one big downside to the Timeline layout is that you can easily see every post you've ever made or received on Facebook. All anyone needs to do is go to a certain year on your profile and click the "All Posts" button."
Yes, that particular downside could lead to quite a bit of embarrassing moments, awkward confrontations, and so on.
Thankfully there are two ways to minimize humiliation. Neither of them is particularly perfect, but they help a bit.
As tedious as it is, you could go through your Timeline and hide (or delete) individual posts. All you have to do is click the little pencil icon on a post and you'll be presented with the different options.
Of course, this process could take forever and a day if you're a particularly active Facebook user. (I told you it wasn't perfect.)
The other action you can take to prevent some embarrassment involves the posts which are visible to the general public or friends of friends. You can change the privacy setting for all of those posts to "friends only" with just one click.
Live Poll
Are you properly prepared for the arrival of the Timeline?
You just have to head to the "Privacy Settings" menu, select the "Manage Past Post Visibility" button next to "Limit the Audience for Past Posts." You'll see a little popup which will confirm that you really want to limit the visibility of your old posts and you're done.
But, as Gordon notes, this particular move "won't hide those posts from your friends, but it will at least keep everyone else on Facebook from being able to browse every post you've ever made public."
Unfortunately that's about all you can do to shelter what little bit or privacy you have left when you're forced to switch over to the Timeline layout. You can — and should — be vigilant about what you post in the first place and what sort of state your general privacy settings are in though, of course. (For more details on that, I recommend checking out Lifehacker's "always up-to-date guide to managing your Facebook privacy.")
New York Times columnist Nick Bilton gets creative with his Timeline cover image.
Can I at least make this thing look pretty?
One of the first things you'll notice about the Timeline is that it puts a gigantic photo front and center. This is called the "cover" photo and you're prompted to select one as soon as your profile is converted to this new design. (You can change the cover image as often as you want.)
You can use (or abuse) this feature to make your little corner of the social network look as unique as a snowflake.
Your decorating options include ready-made images — such as the geeky or intense illustrations artist Sam Spratt made available on BuzzFeed — or your own creations.
Buzzfeed's Director of Creative Services Tanner Ringerud shows how a profile photo can interact with a cover image on Facebook.
If you're really itching to have a one-of-a-kind image, then the best thing to do is is to brainstorm until you find a way to make the large cover image interact with your profile photo. The only tricky part — aside from actually coming up with a clever idea — is that you need to keep the proportions of the images in mind to make sure that everything looks perfect.
So make note that the large cover image is 851 x 315 pixels and that the smaller profile photo is 125 x 125 pixels.
That's really all there is to it?
Yes, that's all you really need to know about the Facebook Timeline — what it is, why you can't avoid it, how to keep it from embarrassing you, and how to make it look pretty.
Not so bad after all, right?
Now go on and pass this handy-dandy guide on to your confused friends and family members so that you can enjoy your last seven Timeline-free days in peace.
Related stories:
- Facedrink: Caffeine with a 'taste of friendship'
- Facebook: 6 degrees of separation? More like 4
- There's a nightclub called 'Facebook' ... in the Amazon
Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
Leave a Comment:
Oh, but I do have a choice. I just got off facebook! The last straw met the camel's back.
Congratulations! You are no longer a sheeple!
I'm seriously thinking about cancelling my Facebook as well and I think if they force me to use that retarded timeline format,,,, it might have just sealed the deal.
Cantelope - that was my first reaction also. I really despise the new format, I think it's a mess and confusing. I'll see what mine looks like at the 7 day mark, but really, I think I'll be taking it down. And it's a shame. It's a really easy way to see what your friends are doing.
I was on face book for a couple of months about a year and a half ago to check it out and realized what a complete waste of time and invasive place it was. I don't trust any site that requires two weeks just to leave. Most people would be freaked out to know they had an ongoing, detailed FBI file being compiled on themselves, yet that is exactly what Facebook is doing. The idea that you have control of your info is a complete illusion.
How does one secede from Facebook? I was leary of Facebook to begin with and this new timeline is just too pervasive.
Same here, if they do in fact force it. And look, the timeline is not only free and mandatory, but it will allow people to see everything you are doing ALWAYS. That's for the poor idiots that add just about anyone and everyone with a picture, and then allow friends to see everything up to contact info. Who wants to bet internet related rape, kidnappings, and exploitation will increase?
I came to the conclusion I'm jumpin' ship too. I don't want this timeline CRAP. FB's going to decline such as MySpace did when they changed everything over - they better rethink their strategy here!
YOUR first choice could/should/would have been to never get on that thing in the first place...what an 'awesome' waste of time...are you really THAT important to the world?
No, I'm not on facebook, twitter or any of the other "social" networks...I prefer my space to be private.
Friends don't let friends become "friends."
Exactly! Finkbook....I'm outta here!
Oh, but I can avoid timeline. Goodbye Facebook!
So far my interaction with the timeline has been horrible. It takes forever to load (especially if the user has a lots of photos) and when I'm trying to scroll down and view "older" posts it consistently bounces me back up to the top of the person's page. It's a shame that the simplicity is gone.
Yeah! It does the same thing to me.
The good news, happy it's not just me.
The bad news, it's really freaking annoying.
What a great, informative article! So many people have asked me how to switch back to the old fb layout but I keep telling them- they should just embrace facebook timeline! Here's how:
Seven Resources to help you Embrace Facebook Timeline:
When I wake up each morning and go to sleep each night, I thank God for not having auctioned off my common sense and my privacy to Facebook and Twitter. For those who haven't done likewise, I feel sorry for them. Narcissism is not a victimless condition. It is like being in a real life enactment of Fringe and stabbing oneself through a portal. What a waste, and what a waste of time.
Quick stat: there are over 800 million fb users.
I can't stand reading posts from people hating on these sites. If you don't have family or friends, then hate away. But if you do have family and friends, especially in other states, then FB is an amazing tool to stay connected to your family. I'm from a large family who all live in the Chicago area. I moved to SC for work. It is expensive to fly back and forth all the time. So they all use fb to keep me up to date with the kids growing up, new pics of them, and quick notes about what's new. I am so happy to have fb. And the new timeline page is actually pretty cool once you get used to it.
I have a large family and we have a couple of really cool devices that are way better than Facebook for staying in touch and they don't spill our beans to the world at large, they're called email and a telephone.
Totally agree with Blake. Don't call me a narcissist just because I've found an easy way to stay in touch with my friends and family who live all across the world. But we can agree to disagree. You can waste your time doing whatever you want and I'll waste my time talking to my family.
At the end of the day, all the fb haters are just old people refusing to give it a change, afraid of change, or simply don't get technology. Fine by me if you stick to email and phone. (lame)
I'll use fb, IM, skype, twitter, photo share, and all the wonderful useful tools.
I've been in computers for over 20 years and have been through all the tools at one time or another...it has nothing to do with being old or a techno fuddyduddy, it's called discretion and experience. I don't hang out at malls to fill the time or feel a hole in my gut if I don't text someone every five minutes either.
Some of us have lives that are full and productive enough that we can utilize all the technologies without having it define our behaviors...in other words we are not addicted to it...are you?
FB WAS a great way to connect with my family, but then I got friends requests from their in-laws and wackos that they have "friended" or idiots I have known previously that just wanna re-connect. Not to mention the stupid apps that you cant opt out of altogether or the ads constantly in my face.
Blake, no it isn't just "old" people refusing to change, afraid of change, or not understanding technology. The timeline is stripping many of the privacy customizations we currently have. I'm 25, had facebook almost from day one and this is the first change that has absolutely irked me to no end. This is slowly becoming more horrific than myspace at the end of its tragic life. The reason people are upset about this is the invasion of privacy, I'm sure many, as well as myself, have matured over the years and there are probably posts that aren't wanted any longer but due to the way the page is now set up, it's near impossible to go back and find what you want to delete since clicking more stories over and over flood the page and cause the connection speed to lag a lot. Just saying but you are not correct in your assumption of why people don't want to deal with this crap.
Timeline does not strip your privacy, if you have not yet tried it, you have total control of what others see, in fact control of what groups of people see. If you have a post or picture or action that you only want to share with one person or your close family, you are able to do that. You can even do the reverse of showing it to everybody else and excluding a person or group.
At first glance it is quite chaotic, but once you get used to reading a timeline, it becomes easy to read. It simply is chronologically arranged, so it makes it logical in the sense of time, hence the name timeline. Instead of having the latest post be the last, I could for example share an album of photos from my wedding in the right year it happened. Of course, you again have control of it because you can put it in any year you want, and you can share it only with friends from Nebraska if you choose to.
I see timeline as putting order to the chaos of facebook and the added controls as far as sharing and grouping as a welcome addition to ensuring privacy, but of course you have to try it before you shoot it down.
And yes, you have total control because you can choose not to be in FB if that is what you want.
you don't see irony in saying you feel bad for someone else who hasn't made the same choice as you after complaining about narcissism?
Sheesh people, shame on you!
What happened to the idea that we are each entitled to state our own opinion about things? Isn't that a cornerstone of freedom of speech in this country? I am so sad to see how easy it is for so many of you to be hateful, rude, disrespectful and belittle each other because you don't share the same opinion and just because you can leave your comment anonymously.
Mature people state their views, make their case and go do what they are gonna do. Maybe even enter into a civil discussion with someone who has a different opinion.
Immature people call names like narcissist and lame, call other ideas "old" and stupid and rely on sarcasm and a superior attitude instead of giving common courtesy of allowing someone to state their own opinion.
My bottom line on this subject? I don't like the Timeline really and am transitioning my business social media to Google Plus so I can keep ONLY business info out there. It makes me paranoid and I've scrubbed as much personal info out of my Timeline as possible.
But what do I think you should do?? Stay with FB if you want to, leave if you want to.
There. Easy.
rd14 (and others who feel the need to comment)
I do not understand why, in every article about Facebook or Twitter or whatever, there is always one person who feels the need to pop in and explain to us why their life is so much better without it. Do you think we care? Honestly? Please take your digital high horse somewhere else.
Seriously, if you actually pray every morning and night about it, AND you feel the need to stop in here to talk to us common-folk who haven't wised up yet, then who's the real time waster?
I'll get off my high horse, if you get off yours.
I agree with possum 404.
It's called an opinion board...some people have completely different ones from your own...get used to it.
I basically came in as a non-face book user to see how many people were for or against this "new my way or the highway" Suckerborg regime Facebook is setting up and has always been famous for.
I agree with possom404. Who cares if your life is sooooo much better without FB. Well, my life is sooooo much better WITH it. I reconnected with a guy I went to elementary school with on FB and now we are dating and things couldn't be better. I don't understand all the privacy hooplah over FB. The privacy settings really aren't that hard to understand. It doesn't have to be this evil "big brother" machine just waiting to steal all your info. It's really simple....if you don't want FB and the world to know a piece of info....DON'T PUT IT ON THERE!!!! I don't post where I am at all times, my phone number, address. I don't add every person who sends me a request. If I don't know or remember the person, I don't add them. It's really that simple. I don't spend hours and hours a day on there. I'm on there maybe 10-15 minutes a day during the week at the most. On weekends, I may go the entire time and not even log in. Some people just don't have common sense or they let FB run their life. I guess that's where the problems come in. Kinda sad.
Your approach sounds rational and you are using the discretion I was talking about. I have no problem with that. BUT, I can guarantee that you are rare among the 800 million people using fb...
@a-pronoun oh i mean person Discuss this post is at the top so when someone has an opinion different then your opinion it is not necessary to be rude. also i suppose you were not taught manners growing up but it is impolite to scream at strangers on the Internet (DON'T PUT IT ON THERE!!!!). I also wounder how much time it took you to read this article and comment on it. when you discuss things you express your opinion, then i express my opinion, and then we see on what points we can agree on and the rest we can agree to disagree on.
OK: earth population 8 billion, FB Users 800 million, so not a big deal to NOT want my privacy to be invaded and sold to the highest bidder.
If I want to connect to family or friends, I may be lame, but I see them or telphone them.
If I want to make sarcastic remarks on the internet, that's what anonymity of message boards is for.
OK: earth population 8 billion, FB Users 800 million, so not a big deal to NOT want my privacy to be invaded and sold to the highest bidder.
If I want to connect to family or friends, I may be lame, but I see them or telphone them.
If I want to make sarcastic remarks on the internet, that's what anonymity of message boards is for.
OK: earth population 8 billion, FB Users 800 million, so not a big deal to NOT want my privacy to be invaded and sold to the highest bidder.
If I want to connect to family or friends, I may be lame, but I see them or telphone them.
If I want to make sarcastic remarks on the internet, that's what anonymity of message boards is for.
OK: earth population 8 billion, FB Users 800 million, so not a big deal to NOT want my privacy to be invaded and sold to the highest bidder.
If I want to connect to family or friends, I may be lame, but I see them or telphone them.
If I want to make sarcastic remarks on the internet, that's what anonymity of message boards is for.
OK: earth population 8 billion, FB Users 800 million, so not a big deal to NOT want my privacy to be invaded and sold to the highest bidder.
If I want to connect to family or friends, I may be lame, but I see them or telphone them.
If I want to make sarcastic remarks on the internet, that's what anonymity of message boards is for.
Sorry for the multi-post - the system was stupid yesterday.
If your looking for a pre made facebook cover try here -
Timeline is an unnecessary addition to spam you even more with advertisements and possible hacks from outside sources. It wasn't needed before, and it's not needed now. Zuckerberg isn't about keeping your privacy private; he's all about exploiting your family situation (like being spread out over many states), or any other situation that not all of your friends that you have friended should need to know. Yea, yea, skirt the system by putting up a fake account, but you know what? Why bother dealing with two accounts, when one will do just nicely? You're now trapped in your account, and any sort of communication that you want to keep separate from others will now be seen by all of your friends and family, and hell is going to break out. It's better to break out from Facebook now and just email back and forth. To hell with this guy manipulating your life for his profit.
I just have to say I agree with Tanglebones. I am no longer on facebook, because of the timeline. I really do think there is more to it than they are saying. Why should I continue to let someone make money off of my information, plus I don't want to even share it the start with. I was always very skeptical about what I said on FB anyway. I never said too much, because even though it said you had privacy, I wondered if I really did. So, you either like it or you don't. You do have a choice. You can stay on fb or you can leave it. It is all up to you. I left it and I am glad that I did!
I think this sucks and Ill stay off facebook after this
I like facebook
I think this actually may make me to close my facebook account.
This is simple for me. If I cannot keep what I have now,they can just delete my account. Real simple.
i will drop facebook
Now I'll have to check out Google+
That's what I had planned as well.
I don't understand why everyone is freaking out about this. I'm not a big fan of Facebook, but the Timeline is a non-issue. The Timeline isn't changing the privacy settings on any of your posts, it's just presenting them in a different way. If someone couldn't see a particular post originally, they won't be able to see it once you are using Timeline. Yes, it makes it easier for your Facebook Friends to find particular posts, but if you don't want them to see a particular post then you should have either not posted it on Facebook or you should have set the privacy settings appropriately when you first posted it. And you can go ahead and change privacy settings on any post you want. As for the whole "Facebook is encouraging users to give up too much personal information" well, no one is holding a gun up to your head. If you don't want Facebook having a lot of personal information about you (and you shouldn't) then don't give it to them, it's that simple. People should be more worried about Facebook's 3rd party tracking cookies in my opinion. Oh and if you are still not liking Timeline, then use Google+ instead - IMHO it's better anyway.
So, anything I currently have set-up as "don't show" (e.g. birthday) and everything I have set-up as "friends only" or "me only" will remain that way under the new timeline format, correct?
Everything should stay the same. I switched to Timeline when it first came out because I like it better. I am a real stickler about my privacy settings and I double check them often (especially when I see something in the news about FB changing privacy options). All of my settings were the same.
And billillb - I agree 100%. I don't understand why people don't think before they post stuff. Before I post ANYTHING I stop and think "Do I want potentially everyone in the world to see this?" If not, then I don't post it. It's as simple as that. I don't put much about my personal life on mine anyway. I mostly just post silly stuff to make people laugh. I don't get why people post all their business on there.
I think what annoys me is just as I get it set up like I like it--they change it again! I don't live on Facebook, but it can be handy. But just as some people note, don't put everything about you down to your underwear preference on it if you don't won't the whole world to know about it. It's a nice tool to have to keep in touch with people, but eh--I don't have to have it. I will try Timeline, but I swear, if Facebook changes it again in six months, I'm bailing.
Plus, to me Timeline looks like MySpace in a way, or is that just me?
Let me make your life easier and cheaper: Send your stupid iphone off to recycling. Delete your FB account. Things will be so much simpler without all those pointless and unnecessary things to invade your privacy and waste your (and your employers') time.
Never had a good feeling about the whole facebook thing. The article never states the option available to all 800 million FBers. Delete button
Where is the delete button!
log in on facebook go to drop down menu next to home, go to help, type in delete facebook 3 options come up. the first 2 is (1)how to delete and (2)how to deactivate your account
There is another way to avoid this ridiculous page - move to Google +!!! That is what I am doing. Sorry FB, you were fun but your constant unannounced changes to everything has just become too f@#$ing annoying to stay any longer
Google has more information on you than you realize. More than the government does. Facebook is heading in that direction. I abhore those sites that want every bit of information out of you they can get. Remember, whatever you posted in the past and in the future is going to be a complete resume of your life. DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.
I'm outta here!!!!!!!!!!!!
If this is your biggest problem..good for you. Get over it. I have been using Timeline for awhile now....a monkey can figure it..
agreed!
per this article we have 2 choices (1) get over it, or (2) get out of it.