For those of you that get enraged whenever Facebook makes changes, prepare to have a terrible week. Facebook is expected to unleash “Facebook Timeline” to the masses next week in what is sure to cause a massive social media frenzy.
It’s the biggest change to ever happen to Facebook, largely because it completely redefines Facebook’s purpose in your life. Facebook started as a “re-creation” of the college experience. Essentially, it was a place where college kids could relive last night’s kegger, “poke” friends, and stalk classmates of the opposite sex.
Those days of Facebook are long gone, and that has never been more apparent than with the upcoming release. ”Facebook Timeline” is essentially your life story in a digital format. You can document your birth, your relationship history, your changes in eating habits, your work and education, and much more. For a solid overview check out the video that Facebook put out cover it: Facebook Timeline Video.
For those of you who are terrified of change, here are 4 couple tips that will help you get your new profile setup:
1. Facebook Cover Photo
This is the giant photo that will sit behind your Profile Picture. For the more technically inclined you can create a custom photo to really make your profile look good. The image size to use is 840 x 310.
For those of you that just want to use a standard photo there are a couple of websites that are already set up that allow you to download Facebook “Cover Photos”. Here is a link from Mashable covering a couple of them: Facebook Timeline: 5 Sites for Customizing Your Cover Photo.
Or, you can just do a Google image search looking for the exact dimensions of 840×310.
2. You’re Such a Square
The new Facebook Profile Picture is going to be a square. A 180 x 180 square to be exact. Most people have some form of software for cropping photos, but if you don’t you can go to sites like this.
3. The Past…Is Easily Accessible in the Present
Your Facebook history is literally a click away. With the new “Activity Log” your entire Facebook history is only a click away. Want to know who you poked in August of 2007? It’s a simple click away. It currently says up top “A Private Log of Your Activity”, I wouldn’t be surprised to find features like this to cause a whole new wave privacy issues.
4. It’s Pretty Cool
Despite my concerns of Facebook having all this information, I will admit that seeing your Timeline is really, really cool. Visually, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of any previous version of Facebook. One of the main focuses is media and that shows through in a big way. So greet the new Facebook with open arms, and be ready to give it a try!
