Now that Facebook’s Timeline feature is publicly available, users have (unsurprisingly) been vocal about whether they love or hate the new interface. Yet whether you adore Timeline or are disgusted by it, the fact remains that you can willingly transition your profile now, or allow Facebook to automatically make the switch at a later date.
And why does that matter? Because proactively updating your profile gives you a chance to prune any embarrassing photos or posts from the site before they’re collated as part of the Timeline experience. Once you opt to transition to Timeline, Facebook gives you seven days to edit and customize your profile before the new look goes live. You can hide photos and stories that you don’t want included on the Timeline and can adjust the visibility settings of each component.
After all, the purpose of Timeline is “to tell your life story with a new kind of profile,” according to Facebook. Gone is the straight-shot profile that resembles Facebook’s News Feed. Instead, you can share and highlight your most memorable posts, photos and life events on your timeline, which is organized by month and year, in a way that more closely resembles a life story rather than a simple aggregation of activity.
Once you’ve switched to Timeline, feel free to channel your inner creativity to create a truly innovative design. We’ve seen some amazingly clever creations that make brilliant use of both the profile photo and the larger Timeline cover photo, which gives you a surprising amount of space with which to express yourself and help make that all-important first impression.
We stumbled on Aly Moffatt’s hilarious approach (above) courtesy of Hongkiat.com, the staff of which was also kind enough to create a free Photoshop template that you can download and use to design your Timeline cover.
Once you’ve finished customizing your Timeline, we’d love to see the results. And in the meantime, what are your thoughts on Timeline? Has it changed how you feel about—or will use—Facebook? Or do you tend to roll with the punches when it comes to changes in the social space?
