¶ The Facebook Timeline

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It’s always interesting when Facebook makes a significant change. Such changes are often followed by a flood of disgruntled friends and acquaintances in my feed. Last week, Facebook put the profile page and wall in the past and replaced it with Timeline. And so far I haven’t seen any outrage.

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Part of the lack of whining may be because Facebook hasn’t forced this change…yet. Right now you have to visit the Timeline about page and click the Get Started button. You’ll then have immediate access to Timeline, which is a continuous stream of every single thing you have ever done on Facebook. Sounds a little daunting, doesn’t it?

Don’t worry, you get 7 days before your Timeline is viewable by anyone except you. So, if you have some things on there you’d rather not have everyone know about, you can go ahead and hide or delete items from the Timeline. If you finish your edits before the 7 day period, you can go ahead and press a button to publish it to the public immediately.

Telling a Story

I have to say, I really like Timeline. It furthers the idea of storytelling. You can feature certain events more prominently on your Timeline. For example, I put things like my engagement, wedding, when we moved, when my wife & I found out we were going to have a baby, said baby’s birth, and other neat things that I want my friends to know about me. The highlights of your life story are easy to showcase.

Another thing I like is featuring a photo at the top of your Timeline in addition to your profile pic. Facebook calls this your cover. I put a nice picture of a cup of coffee, since that is one of my little hobbies. It helps to communicate your interests. I think it looks great and adds more personality to the experience.

Timeline surely won’t be liked by everyone, but I think many will embrace it as a great way to share life stories. Storytelling is how we pass on knowledge, build relationships, and find enjoyment. The Profile and Wall didn’t work well to communicate a story of who you are. Timeline makes significant steps in that direction. With so many of us using Facebook to keep in touch with friends and relatives, sharing stories has never been easier.