Review: Take the time to curate Facebook Timeline
I've often joked that if something's not on Facebook, it didn't happen. Facebook's new Timeline feature makes that adage even more apparent. Timeline is Facebook's new way of presenting you to the world. It replaces your traditional profile page the one with your headshot and a smorgasbord of personal musings, photos and other items to share with friends. Instead of just a snapshot of you today, Timeline is supposed to be a scrapbook of your whole life. But these highlights are culled from what Facebook sees as important the stuff you and your friends have chosen to write or post photos about over the years. So it's crucial to spend time curating it, so your life doesn't come across as vain. If you're not careful, you also might reveal skeletons from your past to more recent friends. Once you're ready for Timeline, you have a week to airbrush your life before it replaces your current profile. I suggest focusing on the years since you joined Facebook. You can always add photos from childhood later. To set up Timeline, visit http://facebook.com/timeline. Facebook will force you to switch within a few weeks, so don't procrastinate. Start by choosing a cover photo, the image that will splash across the top. You can choose a sunset, your dog, a hobby, anything that reflects who you are. Keep in mind the dimensions are more like a movie screen than a traditional photo. A close-up portrait of your face won't work well, but one of you lying horizontally will. Your old profile photo will still be there, but it'll be smaller. If you haven't done so already, you can add where you've worked, lived and went to school. If you specify years such as when you started a job those items will be added to Timeline's stream of life events, even if they took place before Facebook's founding in 2004. You can also add other life events to the stream. The timeline stream is your life on Facebook in reverse chronological order.
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