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A complete Guide to Facebook Timeline 19

Everytime Facebook changes its design,there is a collective outcry from the addicted masses complaining the site’s new look. Facebook Timeline — the latest update from Facebook which has completely given a new look to profile design is now rolled out to everyone. Timeline was released throughout September of this 2011 and also advertised since “an uncomplicated way to uncover what exactly you shared, as well as acquire your best instances in a single place.” It may be recognized and criticized through consumers as well as solitude supporters alike. But Timeline is different from previous updates, Timeline lets them be a designer 😉

The huge change in Timeline profiles is the giant photo that goes at the top of your profile, separate from your profile picture. It’s called a cover, and it is the height of creativity that Facebook has ever permitted in its frequently stiff design. Along with the cover photo, Timeline helps you sort through the actions of your life online — and offline, too – to make a sort of curated Web scrapbook. You can highlight your college graduation, new job or marriage, and you can also hide those photos you had rather your friends not see. The most strange thing added is that “You can even add photos and actions from before Facebook existed

Option to change the data of Photos and Videos

Timeline is, as one might expect by the name, a chronological, visual story of your life, as Facebook has recorded it (or as you choose to tell it). Facebook users can get Timeline on their profile by clicking the Get Timeline link and start curating it. Once done, users will have a seven-day review period during which it won’t be visible to anyone else. They can make it go live manually or it will automatically go live once the review period ends. Here is more about it .

First Impressions of Facebook Timeline

Its kind of hybrid between a visual blog and online scrapbook, somewhat inspired from twitter and old MySpace .It’s more a rearrangement and different display of the information that’s already in Facebook in a new User Interface . You can add more detailed information that you might not have had before, like your photos from childhood  ,  birthday (with year),  and other memories that could fill in the gap between the day you were born and the beginning of your life on Facebook.

This is how Facebook Timeline looks like

Cover image

I find it funny that Facebook has named the giant leading image on any Timeline page the “cover image.” It’s a large splash photo that you can change at any time, but is not your profile picture, which I like. You can choose any photo to represent you or your life without it being the picture people see of you. This is a welcomed addition. I get the sense that many people want to make their profile picture some image the captures how they’re feeling or what they’re excited to share at the moment, rather than a picture of their face. I have no problem with creative profile pictures, but there actually is a breakdown in the mechanics of Facebook when you can’t identify your friends by sight . Many people will now upload some nonsense or scenery image which is a FAIL . Even i find it irritating and painful to stare blankly at pictures of quotes, movie posters of twilight , groups of people on a stage, and cartoon images of spongebob .

Cover Image size to use FB timeline
It is good to use 850px wide and 315px height high quality resolution image which will fit perfectly.

Minimum width of Cover Photo
The Cover photo must be atleast 399 pixels wide, the image below 399 pixels wide will show error.

If you try a larger image to put on your cover page than Facebook will give and option to crop that image.

The dimensions for the cover image are very unconventional, and I found that I didn’t like how most of my images looked when I uploaded them without manipulating their size and cropping them significantly. It’s also a large space to fill, so higher-resolution photos work best. You can drag an image around the viewer space .

History

Status updates, photos, friendships made, as well as job history, marital status changes, and other information that you’ve recorded in your profile ! Yes , even Relationship Status updates can be seen once someone decides to spy your facebook life . I can say facebook has made stalking easier 😀 Timeline solves one big Facebook issue: the matter of it being too in-the-moment. Timeline is structured in a way that lets you more easily scan and look for the information you want.

Timeline creates a record of events, changes, and other activity, and makes it easier to read or comment on slightly outdated (or even very old) activity by person and time, so if other factors are what trigger your memory, it’s still quite difficult to find older posts.

My Thoughts

I must admit that I dint like playing with Facebook Timeline . I customized old Facebook by adding 5 creative banners of tagged pics but it took only 1 minute to customize my Facebook cover thanks to already available tools to pick and update your FB cover ! However with Timeline, you face a huge envelope of data that you have already created, and now you are tasked with making sure it’s all appropriate and what you want the world to see. If it isn’t then you better waster an hour or half to make set it right .You can change  permissions at any time, deleting or hiding images you don’t want everyone to see, rotating out the cover image, and so forth.

Tricks and Tips for your Cover Pic

  • I think you should choose a photo that represents your personality.Your cover is the first impression of you a user will get when he or she goes to your page. As you sort through your photos, reckon about which snapshots best represent you, whether its an image of your family or  an abstract. Humor is always welcome, and for advanced Timeline users,there are ways to make jokes about the actual design of the page .
  • Remember ! Your profile photo should be of you  ; your cover photo can be anything.
  • Try Editing your photos. The cover is a huge space, so an HD photo will look dashing .Try cropping/manipulating your image to make it look fantastic. You can drag your image around the viewer space, but you cannot crop or resize from within Facebook.
  • Take help of Web sites that will help you design your own cover. They give you the tools to design a creative cover with your own metaphors. .
  • Last and super suggestion – Be creative. Don’t be generic

 

I think that Timeline is definitely an additional characteristic which also helps Facebook differentiate itself through rival social networking sites like  twitter and Google+ .

19 thoughts on “A complete Guide to Facebook Timeline

  1. Reply Kevin K Lau Dec 20,2011 1:07 am

    I like the new Timeline. It makes it easy for me to sort through updates that need my attention–comments, likes, etc. I also like it that I can change that billboard image and use something that is more effective.

  2. Reply Rajib @ SEO for Blog Dec 24,2011 6:57 pm

    I am not using Timeline. I didn’t find anything special.

  3. Reply Rojish @ wordpress management service Dec 27,2011 12:15 pm

    I like the new timeline a lot, it brings up a fresh new look to our Facebook profile. Creative cover photos always grabs attention.

  4. Reply David Dec 29,2011 6:23 pm

    I haven’t tried it cause it shows all your activity which is for me my privacy is invade.

  5. Reply astaxanthin Jan 2,2012 11:53 pm

    great post, i love the new Timeline. i can sort through updates that need my attention–comments, likes, etc. and I can change that billboard image and use something that is more effective.

  6. Reply Victor Stanescu Jan 11,2012 12:23 am

    Cool post,

    I also made an easy to follow guide on how to use the new Facebook Timeline wisely and securely: http://www.vectorash.ro/facebook-timeline-guide/

  7. Reply Employee Monitor Jan 11,2012 7:09 pm

    I immediately liked Timeline when it came out. I didn’t wait for it to be forced upon my profile but instead decided to apply it myself, this way I had the time to sort through my privacy settings and everything before publishing it. I didn’t notice any changes in my privacy settings, though. Do you think I missed something? Did this change affect my past posts or any hidden data that I didn’t notice? I wanted to thank you for the cover image description. I didn’t know what the pixel parameters were so I just cropped the image I chose, but this helps a lot. Now I can improve my cover photo to be exactly as I envisioned it to be. Thank you for these tips and for not hating the changes Facebook makes. Change is the only permanent thing in life, so why should we fight it? We should embrace it.

  8. Reply Northampton Photographer Jan 15,2012 4:12 pm

    I like the new timeline. It’s funny to think that in years to come, Facebook will be a comprehensive record of people’s lives in photos…

    Shame they’ll probably completely change it in about two years though haha

  9. Reply Loanco Jan 16,2012 9:29 pm

    I like the new timeline a lot, it brings up a fresh new look to our Facebook profile. Creative cover photos always grabs attention.

  10. Reply Carloan Jan 17,2012 7:45 pm

    As per the above information about the face book it is good to know that according to the new time line a lot a fresh new look of he face book profile.Creative cover photo always grabs attention

  11. Reply Amelie Feb 16,2012 4:39 pm

    Really an informative post about facebook timeline but personally I don’t like facebook timeline.

    Anyway,thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

    Regards,

    Amelie Wakelin

  12. Reply auramac Feb 22,2012 2:09 pm

    I hate Timeline with a passion. The two column left-right view is infuriating, but worst so far is the inability to import a photo and not be able to resize the thumbnail properly- only part of it shows, and thus, the Timeline page becomes a cluttered, sometimes unusable mess.

    Steve Jobs would’ve been as nauseated as i am looking at this.

  13. Reply trung tran Feb 24,2012 2:02 pm

    I’ve had NONE of the problems discussed in this thread. Facebook
    Timeline was offered as a preview long before they “forced” it upon
    anyone. Take the time to follow what Facebook is doing on their
    developer pages and others before claiming they are making changes
    without testing or asking.

  14. Reply Earl Dickerson Feb 29,2012 5:37 pm

    I strongly dislike the new Timeline. It’s far too busy and who needs to know all that information. Can someone tell me how to disable the new timeline? I was invited early and now I can’t get rid of it.

  15. Reply stella@raplica handbags Mar 4,2012 12:14 pm

    I didn’t know what the pixel parameters were so I just cropped the image I chose, but this helps a lot.

  16. Reply Jason Davis Mar 10,2012 11:23 am

    Facebook should not make or demand everyone to use the Timeline.I do not like it and will not use it! I enjoy Facebook and look at all the ad’s that you make money on as you collect so many things about me and sell them and make money on them!

  17. Reply Jason Davis Mar 12,2012 2:24 pm

    I have already published my Facebook Page Timeline and I really like it. It’s funny because I never had a welcome tab but now I’m glad I didn’t waste my time creating one. I didn’t know you could change the page name now, thanks for sharing that info too.

  18. Reply Sälj Guld Mar 12,2012 7:11 pm

    A good informative post. I am about to switch to Timeline for my work company page and it’s good to have a little summary of it because it can be a bit confusing at first 🙂

  19. Reply Jason Davis Mar 19,2012 6:02 am

    Facebook Timeline is way too much like MySpace! If you like it, fine. I hate it!

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