The Techie Guy – Liron Segev

The Timeline has come to make a change in the way your Facebook looks. Facebook has announced that they will be rolling out the Timeline profile layout feature soon and it will be mandatory for everyone

“Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it.”

Here are the 5 most common questions about Timeline:

1. What is Timeline ?

Mark Zuckerberg describes it as: “We want to design a place that feels like your home. Where you tell story online is very personal. You spend a lot of time curating it. We want to make timeline a place you’re proud to call your home.”

Timeline is a visual story of whats going on in your Facebook life ordered by the most resent – think of it as an online scrapbook.

Timeline replaces your current Facebook “look”. The same information that you currently have on your profile will be presented differently and will include the option to have multiple apps that slot into your profile.

2. What are Timeline apps ?
Apps make it easier for you to share your story with others. For example, when you add the Foospotting app, you are able to rate and recommend or not recommend a specific meal in a restaurant and this is instantly available for others to see inside your Timeline. [Retailers beware !]

Here are some apps that are available:

• Foodspotting – “Find and recommend dishes, not just restaurants”
• Foodily – “Follow friends and food experts to get yummy, beautiful recommendations of what to cook at home and share it all with friends. “
• Ticketmaster – “Find and buy tickets directly on Facebook. This app will publish tickets you bought and RSVP you to events on Facebook”
• Pinterest – “online pinboard”
• Rotten Tomatoes – not clear but something about searches about movies/actors ?????
• Pose – “best way to share and discover your lifestyle”
• Kobo – “read books freely”
• Gogobot – “plan the perfect trip”
• TripAdvisor – find and rate hotels & holidays

3. What appears on my Timeline?
The usual suspects will still remains: Status, photos, who is friends with whom and other info you have in your profile currently. It will just be displayed differently.

4. What about privacy ? Can  I select what appears on Timeline?
Timeline is editable so that you can control every aspect of it. Look out for the Facebook editing “pen” icons which allows you to hide or nuke activities, info, photos, events etc.

5. Its private ! I don’t want everyone to see everything, can I restrict who can see what ?
Yip, just like you can currently manage your privacy and limit who can see what, the same will apply for Timeline (drop down list allows you to select who can see what)

So we all better embrace Timeline – its coming if we