{"id":466,"date":"2011-12-23T08:16:09","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T16:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internetsafety.trendmicro.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2012-01-05T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T18:34:12","slug":"time-for-facebook-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/blog\/time-for-facebook-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Your New Profile is Here: Time for Facebook Timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-475\" title=\"LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit\" src=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>By Lynette T. Owens<\/p>\n<p>Last September, Facebook announced that it would change the way your profile would be laid out and how you could share and manage your information.\u00a0 It is not uncommon for sites (social networking, websites, or any site) to update and improve themselves on a frequent basis, but this change is one of the biggest since Facebook\u2019s launch and possibly the first change many new Facebook users have ever encountered. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It has taken some time since the announcement but these changes, called Facebook Timeline, are finally here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is Timeline?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to Facebook, Timeline is \u201cyour collection of the photos, stories, and experiences that tell your story.\u201d\u00a0 To be honest, I would argue that was the definition of Facebook even before Timeline.\u00a0 But the difference is in the way all that information is laid out to you and to anyone else you choose to share it with.\u00a0 The old version of the profile was minimalist, functional but boring.\u00a0 This change is much more elegant and when you see your life reflected back to you in this way, it\u2019s hard not to stare and be narcissistic for a moment.\u00a0 It is not unlike the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.about.me\/\">About.me<\/a> service that allows you to create a beautiful profile page using photography in a way that is more aesthetically appealing than the typical website.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the obvious artistic changes, there is much more to pay attention to, especially if you\u2019re someone who shares a lot of things with a lot of people.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a list of the highlights of Timeline:<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Cover<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first thing you\u2019ll notice is an image area at the top consisting of 2 images: a large image spanning almost the entire width of your profile and a smaller image overlapping on the bottom left.\u00a0 This is your profile picture. \u00a0The other image is a new feature and lets you choose something to set the tone and style of your profile. A few thoughts:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You\u2019ll probably end up spending a lot of time figuring out the best photo to put in the new spot so do this when you have time.<\/li>\n<li>If you upload an image that is too small it won\u2019t allow you to do it.\u00a0 You need an image that is a minimum of 399 pixels wide (according to the message I got).<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re not an expert at understanding graphics quality for the web, you should know that the photo you choose should have a high resolution, otherwise when you expand it to this size, it looks awful and grainy.\u00a0 Some expert sites say that a minimum of 300 pixels per square inch is a good rule of thumb (better to take a huge photo and scale it down vs. a small photo and expand it to fit the space)<\/li>\n<li>The ability to edit the image you choose is limited \u2013 you can only slide its placement around (like your profile picture) \u2013 you can\u2019t resize it, zoom in on it, or edit in any other way like you can on many photo printing sites.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re advising your kids on using this, I would also remind them that they should respect copyrights and not use an image that cannot legally be used.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Main Content<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beneath the cover, you will now see all of your information grouped into blocks, such as an About section which is a brief summary of your biography, your status updates, your photos, things you\u2019ve liked, friends you\u2019re connected with, or\u00a0spots you\u2019ve checked in with Facebook places.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Towards the bottom, all the apps you are using and the information they are tracking for you via Facebook.\u00a0Each of these blocks, and the content within these blocks, can be customized so you can decide what parts of them you are sharing and with whom you\u2019re sharing them.<\/p>\n<p>You may decide your summary bio is ok to show publicly, your photos and updates only to your friends, and your apps to nobody but you.\u00a0 These are sharing settings that you should spend some time thinking about before your Timeline is published live. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Activity Log<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beneath your cover photo, there is a link called \u201cActivity Log\u201d.\u00a0 This will show you everything you\u2019ve ever posted\/liked\/shared\/done on Facebook and shows you the most recent down to the very first time you signed up for a profile.\u00a0 This page is yours and only yours to see.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You can filter what you\u2019re looking at using the \u201cAll\u201d tab in the upper right.\u00a0 You can choose to view only likes, status updates, photos, etc. with this filter.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">An Actual Timeline<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the most interesting change to your profile.\u00a0 On the right side of your profile, you will now see a progression of years from the most recent down to the moment you were born.\u00a0 This is the Timeline.\u00a0 It\u2019s comprised of two pieces of information: Everything you\u2019ve ever done on Facebook (which comes from your Activity Log) AND any information you provided to Facebook that is time-related (such as when you graduated from college).<\/p>\n<p>You can easily jump to a specific year and see the combination of these two groups of information combined for that year.\u00a0 In my case, I see things like dates I graduated from different schools and worked with different companies, and later, the exact date I opened my Facebook profile (which I had completely forgotten!)<\/p>\n<p>This feature is pretty cool in my opinion.\u00a0 But it is also a treasure trove of personal data that I think needs to be managed very carefully, and that we should advise young people to handle carefully, too.\u00a0 While it\u2019s easy to see everything in this logical view, it\u2019s also easy for anyone to see it if we don\u2019t handle it properly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A Note about Privacy and Security<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As mentioned above, you can control what you share on your timeline, which consists of things you did or shared on Facebook plus other information you provided in your bio.\u00a0 You can decide what specific information shows up in your Timeline by:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>going to the Activity Log and selecting specific activities to hide (see the button on the right side which lets you hide it from the timeline)<\/li>\n<li>going to the About section (the link is below your profile picture) and hitting the Edit button for each block of information (work history, education, etc.)\u00a0 You can set privacy to \u201conly me\u201d if there is a block of information you don\u2019t want showing up on your timeline.\u00a0 However, you cannot decide if a single item in work history shows up but not another.\u00a0 You would need to delete this specific work history from your profile altogether if it is the only one you don\u2019t want showing up on your Timeline.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve played around with all of these features and you\u2019re happy with the way your new profile looks, make sure you do one last thing: check to see what it will look like to the public.\u00a0 Beneath the cover photo, to the right of the Activity Log link, there is a gear image:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_ViewAsbutton.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-467 aligncenter\" title=\"FBTimeline_ViewAsbutton\" src=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_ViewAsbutton-300x184.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_ViewAsbutton-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_ViewAsbutton.png 507w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Click on this and select \u201cView As\u201d.\u00a0 A message will appear above your cover photo saying \u201cThis is how your timeline looks to you\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_publicview.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-468\" title=\"FBTimeline_publicview\" src=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FBTimeline_publicview.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"407\" height=\"91\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Select the word \u2018public\u2019 to see how your new timeline profile will look to anyone in the world.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t, keep working on it, paying close attention to the information you are allowing the public to view.\u00a0 Once you\u2019re happy, go ahead and accepted the changes and let it go live.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on using Facebook Timeline, from Facbook,go to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Help Center &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/profile\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Blog post &#8212; \u00a0blog.facebook.com<\/li>\n<li>Info about Timeline &#8212; \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/about\/timeline\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/about\/timeline<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Info about Apps &#8212; \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/about\/timeline\/apps\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/about\/timeline\/apps<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Videos on YouTube &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/theofficialfacebook\">www.youtube.com\/user\/theofficialfacebook<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more tips from Trend Micro on safe social networking go to:<\/p>\n<p>Kids and Social Networks: <a href=\"\/internet-safety\/this-school-year-help-kids-with-the-safe-responsible-use-of-social-networks\">\/internet-safety\/this-school-year-help-kids-with-the-safe-responsible-use-of-social-networks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can follow Lynette <a href=\"mailto:T@lynettetowens\">@lynettetowens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last September, Facebook announced that it would change the way your profile would be laid out and how you could share and manage your information.  It is not uncommon for sites (social networking, websites, or any site) to update and improve themselves on a frequent basis, but this change is one of the biggest since Facebook\u2019s launch and possibly the first change many new Facebook users have ever encountered.  <\/p>\n<p>Beyond the obvious artistic changes, there is much more to pay attention to, especially if you\u2019re someone who shares a lot of things with a lot of people.  Here\u2019s a list of the highlights of Timeline&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[6,16,5,11,25,10,12],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-parents","category-for-teachers","tag-education","tag-facebook","tag-internet-safety","tag-kids","tag-online-privacy","tag-online-safety","tag-social-networking","wpautop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}