January 28, 2012, 7:47 AM — Facebook announced yesterday that Timeline--its redesigned profile page--is becoming mandatory for all users. If you don't switch to Timeline on your own, Facebook will do so for you within "the next few weeks."
Facebook has been rolling out Timeline slowly since December, after first introducing it at its F8 developer conference in September. The project is one of Facebook's most ambitious and significant redesigns to date, as it seeks to become your digital scrapbook with the capability to document your life from birth to present day, and revisit old posts more easily.
While not everyone is on board with Timeline, the switch is inevitable. Here's our complete guide to Facebook Timeline, from making the switch to adjusting your privacy settings, in order to make the transition easier.
Getting Started: Facebook Timeline Basics
To switch your profile to Timeline on your own, visit facebook.com/timeline and click the "Get It Now" button.
After you make the switch, Facebook will immediately send you to your new Timeline page. At this point, only you can see your new Timeline--all your Facebook friends will still see your old profile design.
From the day you choose to up update to Timeline (or from the day that Facebook switches you), you'll have one week to make any changes you want--including deleting old posts, adding life events and more--before your new profile goes live for your friends to see. Or, if you're ready to debut Timeline before the one-week period, you can click "Publish Now" to push it live.
Facebook Timeline: New Features
There are a number of new features and components that you'll discover once you switch to Timeline. Here are a few of the important ones:
Inline privacy controls: When you update your status, you'll notice a drop-down menu that shows exactly who you're sharing a post with: Public, Friends, Only Me or Custom. When you change this setting, it will stay how you set it for future posts until you change it again. You can also designate a status for certain lists.
Navigating Timeline: There are two easy ways you can revisit your past posts. First, you can choose a year by clicking it on the Timeline slider on the right side of your screen, then drill down by month. Or, you can start by clicking the option beside your name and next to the "Update Info," called "Activity Log."
Within your Activity Log you can sort your past posts by everything from only items you've posted, posts by others, comments, notes, likes, info updates and more. This comes in handy when you're deciding what you want to keep on your Timeline. (For more on this, see the next section on privacy.)
Adding "Life Events": Just above your inline privacy controls is a new option--"Life Event." Just as you can share a status or photo with your friends, you can also fill in your Timeline by highlighting events from your past, such as previous jobs, family and relationships, location moves, travel and more.
After you choose a category to update, you'll be brought to a form to fill in the details: the location, who you were with, the date, a backstory, photos and a privacy setting for who can see this life event.
Highlight what matters: As part of Timeline's more visual interface, you're able to denote which posts deserve more prominence and which are less important, which is reflected in the size of the post.
For example, if you want to highlight a new photo album of a vacation that you just updated, hover over the item and click the star icon. This will turn this item into a "featured post," which means it's more prominently displayed.
Similarly, if you want to hide a particular post from your Timeline--but not delete it entirely--hover over the post and click the pencil icon.
[For more on Facebook Timeline features, read, "5 Facebook Timeline Changes You Can't Wait to Make."]
Facebook Timeline: How to Adjust Your Privacy Settings
When you (or Facebook) migrates your account to the new Timeline, you'll have one week to make adjustments to your past posts and privacy settings before your Timeline will go live for everyone to see. You can publish your Timeline yourself anytime within the seven-day waiting period.
