January 3, 2012

Facebook Debuting the 'Timeline,' Which Is Effectively a Resume for Your Life with Photo

Facebook Timeline Is Basically Your Digital Resume

December 31, 2011

Mashable - For those of you who don’t know (have you been living under a rock?), Facebook is slowly debuting the Timeline to its 800+ million users. Currently, this update is available for those who opt in, but it's rolling out to replace the Facebook profile we’ve all come to know, love, and obsessively study.

As much as jobs folks like me like to think Facebook users automatically think about their careers when Zuckerberg rolls out a new feature, I’ll admit that it’s not the case. So, I’m here to say the new Timeline profile format has made Facebook more job-search friendly than ever. After all, it’s a resume. That’s right. When you stop and look at it, Facebook’s Timeline is effectively a resume. From the giant cover image at the top to the chronological organization down the line, your Facebook profile is a resume for your life, not just your career.

What Does This Mean?

In recent years, it’s pretty common knowledge that an increasing number of employers are turning to the likes of Google and social media to learn more about applicants and current employees. Once Timeline goes 100% live, expect this number to explode.

Until now, the Facebook profile has provided a current slice of a user’s life. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty details or look a week, month, or year into the past, it takes some searching and clicking. With Timeline, employers can learn more about users by searching specific time frames and seeing how the details mesh together.

Ultimately, Facebook is going to become the go-to site for more curious employers and clients. Personalized and manicured Timelines are simply going to be more attractive.

How Can I Use This To My Advantage?

Don’t spaz. Fortunately, the Timeline makes presentation easy for those of use who aren’t as Facebook-savvy as we’d like. Privacy settings will remain the same, posts will fall into place, and you’ll find that mixed media fits into a pretty snazzy arrangement.

​Check the locks. It’s true that no privacy settings are going to be changed. However, those dorky status updates you wrote in 2006 are going to be a whole lot more accessible on your Timeline. Facebook gives you seven days to review the new format before your Timeline goes live, so do your due diligence now.

Pick your crowd. Along with overall privacy settings, your Timeline is going to work a whole lot better if you refine your audiences. Organize your business contacts into a list so that they’re the only ones who can see your industry-specific content. Personalizing your profile to fit the crowd will make your Timeline look so much better.

Customize. One of the most striking differences you’ll find in the Facebook Timeline would have to be the cover photo. It’s smack dab at the top of your profile, so make it nice. Pick something that works for everyone who could possibly see your profile. You already know that picture from the New Year's party isn’t going to work.

Prioritize. If you’re an active user, then all your content isn’t going to fit on your Timeline. While Facebook automatically guesses what content is important enough to be expanded, it could definitely use your input. Expand the information you think is important so that it can be seen by the right people.

Facebook Timeline's Here: Users Have 7 Days to Edit Profiles


USA TODAY - Love it or hate it, it's time for Timeline.

Facebook's 800 million members can either wait for a notification to pop up on their screen or go to Facebook.com/about/Timelineto get Timeline. Eventually all profiles will switch to the new look. Timeline is also available on touch devices using m.Facebook.com and Facebook for Android.

If you've put embarrassing photos or posts on Facebook, you'll have seven days after switching to Timeline to prune them from your profile before Timeline becomes the default look on your profile page.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called Timeline a way to share life experiences, but it could also become a carrot for marketers and advertisers to target consumers based on their "likes" and devotion to certain brands as Facebook duels with Google+ and other social networks for advertising dollars, analysts say.

R. "Ray" Wang, CEO at Constellation Research, says Timeline should improve the user experience by adding detail and context to one's profile. At the same time, Wang cautions,

"There's a growing concern among individuals that Facebook is driving individuals to trade their privacy for convenience without understanding the risks. Can individuals turn it off forever if Facebook still owns the data? What do you do to take yourself out of a Timeline? Is this the beginning of digital extortion?"

Facebook users, who have been historically quick to blanch at new features, seem to be divided into two camps: those who love it and those who loathe it. And, as with previous Facebook features, many users are fretting over the security of their personal data.

"It's almost blog-like, allowing more ownership," says Stephanie Howell, 25, social media manager at Z Gallerie, a home-furnishing decor company.

Suzie Linville, 33, of Phoenix is concerned about privacy.

"You never know who's going to hack into your page and use that information in a negative manner," she says. "Once Facebook shows me they are on top of security — I don't fully believe they are — I'll go back and check it out."

Facebook's Timeline: We Are All Historians Now

December 27, 2011

Discovery News - Just when you thought Facebook couldn't get any more distracting, here comes Timeline.

The Menlo Park, Calif., firm means this new profile format--now rolling out on the web and in most of Facebook's mobile apps to its 800-million-plus users--to be your digital autobiogaphy. After a week with Timeline, the scary thing is how well it does that, combining the time-suck distraction of an old photo album with the added lure of instant feedback.

When you get this feature, it's easy to get lost in your own history. In my case, I was retroactively embarrassed to see how many months I waited to start using my account after opening it in January of 2006. Then I was amused by how the volume of my birthday greetings tracked Facebook's growth: one in 2006, nine in 2007, 32 in 2008, 47 in 2009, 82 in 2010 and 117 this year.

But set aside navel-gazing to curate your Timeline during the seven-day preview Facebook allows before making it visible to others.

You can start by picking a "cover photo"--a banner image, like the ones that adorn many blogs, to run atop your Timeline. Among the 152 friends that have Timeline so far, outdoor photos seem popular; mine was a telephoto shot of the Potomac River, National Airport and five bridges.

Next comes a gentle scrubbing of your Facebook history. This three-step procedure begins with the "Highlights" that Facebook automatically picks, which I found overemphasized posts from friends in which I'd been tagged. You can't demote these items from Highlights, but you can hide them from Timeline or delete them altogether. You can also change their date, add a location and adjust their visibility. (I'd forgotten that for a year or so, I left my updates visible to "Friends and Networks," not friends only; that's fixed now.)

If you plan to apply for a job or run for office, you should also inspect the "All Stories" view of prior years--a painfully slow process. For the most complete look, the "Activity Log" option shows everything you've done on Facebook, including comments on other people's profiles. Tip: Watch out for after-midnight input, especially on holidays.

The most fascinating and risky feature of Timeline is Life Events--key points of your personal, even pre-Facebook history. The suggested choices cover everything from "New Language" to "Loss of a Loved One" to "Tattoo or Piercing." I'd stick with big moments--say, marriage, birth of a child, running a marathon, seeing a space shuttle launch--but one friend has used this feature to testify to having his wisdom teeth yanked.

I can admit that it's gratifying to get compliments on your achievements years after the fact. But beware that by default, Life Events are public. And although you can make individual milestones visible only to friends, you can't make that your standard for future Life Events.

Your Timeline goes all the way back to your own birth. Fun fact: Although some of the six current and former Facebook employees on my friends list have added baby pictures, none have added the year of their birth.

The trickiest part of Timeline is still unfolding: the new crop of optional apps, touted at Facebook's unveiling of Timeline in September, that broadcast your activity at another site or service in real time. It may be fun to share your Spotify playlists or news stories you've read with friends, but do you want that to go on your permanent record?

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