Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Facebook Timeline is a Go

Last year I finally signed on to Facebook, probably the last person on the planet to do so, but I never really took to it. This year, I've decided to up my efforts and at the very least get my footing on the site, starting with making the switch to the new Timeline. Eventually, everyone on FB will be taking the plunge into the new interface, and judging by recent announcements it will be sooner rather than later. I signed on last week and have been tinkering with it since then.

The look of the Timeline is pretty nice. Some have compared it unfavorably to Myspace's jumbled layout, but I think it's quite clean even with two columns of data. I like the large cover image, although it would be great if you could at least tailor the overall color scheme of your page to match. I've added a few significant events from the last several years, but I can't see myself taking the time to record my history all the way back to birth. It is neat that you can highlight anything major that you left out, or in my case, didn't have an account at the time to do so.

One of the biggest issues I had with the set up had to do with the Map feature. Finding certain places can sometimes be tricky, and I was unable to upload pictures directly from my computer. Instead, I had to transfer them to my Facebook page, then send them into each location on the Map. Yet when I added events to the Timeline, it uploaded my pictures just fine. It's also kind of annoying that each image has to be adjusted to fit (partially) into a spot.

Other than these small bugs, Timeline was pretty easy to get used to and manage. Of course, it helps that I don't have a lot of past activity to weed through. Facebook has urged users to review their old posts, which will now be much easier to access, just in case there's anything embarrassing you want to hide from your newer and larger group of friends. This is why I stick to the philosophy that you should never put anything online that you wouldn't want your mother or your boss to see. Keep the dirt in house, ya'll.

I've quizzed several FB veterans, and initial reviews are mixed about the Timeline. Some people can't stand it and wish it were more user-friendly, while others are digging the new look. Whether you like it or not, Timeline is officially on it's way to being mandatory and permanent, so there's no reason to delay updated your page. A web search will pull up some helpful hints, and Facebook has tutorials, but you might as well dive right in and experiment for your 7 day trial period.

It will probably be a work in progress for a while, but my Timeline went up last night, and I actually had fun with it. Take a look and hit me up as a friend, and maybe next year I'll be ready to tackle Google Plus. Or not.

What do you think of Timeline? Are you dreading the switch, or ready for something new? If you're in the process of setting it up, I'd love to hear how it's going.

5 comments:

Marsha A. Moore said...

My FB profile is from 2007, and I've seen so many changes. IMO, FB seems to install changes just to stir things up, not to make improvements. I think it's all about "looking new and fresh" to compare to Google+.

Anonymous said...

I don't really like the new layout. I am all for new things and fresh ideas but the new layout does not jump out at me as a good switch. It may have to do with the fact I am a private person and tend to delete my post 3-12 hours after I post them.

Marilyn Muñiz said...

I have mixed feeling on new format. It looks great but I wish they would stop updating so much. I get use to one format and then they row out another one.

Ella Gray said...

Marsha and Marilyn - You guys pretty much quoted what Hubs has been saying, LOL. I've heard good stuff about Google +, but I can barely commit to 1 network, so it could be a while before I get around to it :-)

Gracielou - I hear you about being private, and I worry about people compromising security by posting too much info on the Timeline. You can basically tell everyone exactly where you live, work and hang out. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'll definitely be keeping a lot of info to myself. Thanks for posting!

Angela said...

The initial announcement of Timeline is what finally made up my mind to ditch FB permanently, after five years of near constant use. I don't think FB ultimately knows how to keep the dirt in the house - nor do most of its users. (I know I'm in the minority, but that's my two cents.)

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