How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Facebook Timeline

The Facebook Timeline is now available for all users. Right now you have a short term grace period before you have to commit and publish, but we all know the new format will be mandatory sooner or later. So do yourself a favor and set aside half an hour, figure out your privacy settings, and embrace it. It’s kind of great.

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Timeline has taken the aesthetic of Facebook from something a little drab and basic and recreates your page into something that’s part blog, part scrapbook. If you’ve been seeing some people have a profile that looks cooler than yours with a large “cover” photo spanning the top, it probably means they hacked the system and were an early adapter of timeline.

The new format makes it super easy to access old posts, dating back years. (Side note: this means you can instantly pull that Benny Lava video from your wall that you thought was hysterical in 2007.) Facebook even gives you the option to go back to when you were born and add a picture (this is actually a little creepy).

If you’re worried that your private information is now more accessible than ever, you’re right, but you should have realized that posting those photos from Cinco de Mayo twenty tequila shots later would have eventually come back sooner or later to bite you in the ass.

Tips for Getting Started:

1. For your cover photo pick something that works well horizontally and wide screen (not a close up of your face).

2. Start editing those antiquated posts- the ones that you thought no one would bother revisiting.

3. Oh, and FYI - there's a button for Activity Log that makes it easy to edit each post one by one.

4. Take the time to choose what you think is important (or delete what you don't want your boss, boyfriend/girlfriend, or mother to see). Facebook is just going to assume that comments equal importance. This may not be in your best interest...

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