Saturday, September 24, 2011

How To | Activate the all-new Facebook "Timeline" Profile

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new redesign for the site’s profiles coming soon called “Timeline”

The site founder unveiled some of the biggest changes in the site's history with the introduction of the new 'timeline' profile pages at the company's f8 conference in San Francisco.



Mark Zuckerberg said the new profile page had been designed so that, 'you can tell the whole story of your life on a single page'.



Timeline is wider than your old profile, and it's a lot more visual.  The first thing you'll notice is the giant photo right at the top. This is your cover, and it's completely up to you which of your photos you put here.


As you scroll down past your cover, you'll see your posts, photos and life events as they happened in time. You choose what's featured on your timeline. You can star your favorites to double their size or hide things altogether.



Although the feature has been announced, it is not yet available to the public – only developers. A beta version is available for developers now, but for the rest of us, it seemed that we’d have to wait a few weeks before we were able to use Timeline.

  • Log into your Facebook account.
  • Enable developer mode, if you haven’t already. To do this, type “developer” into the Facebook search box, click the first search result.

  • Hit the "Allow" button.
  • Click “Create New App”.

  • Give it a random display name and namespace, and check the “I Agree” box and hit continue.

  • Then a security check is required. Enter the captcha in the space provided and click submit.

  • You’ll be directed to the Facebook Developers main page. Here, click on “Open Graph” on the left-hand column.

  • Fill in whatever you want in the following fields. Create a test action for your app, like “read” a “book”, or “eat” a “sandwich”. Then click “Get Started.”

  • Scroll to the bottom of the page and then click on “Save Changes and Next”. Again click on “Save Changes and Next” and finally click on “Save and Finish”

  • You may have to wait a bit for your app to be processed. Just go back to your homepage and wait for your invite to enable Timeline.

  • You’ll then be greeted with a window that says “Introducing Timeline — A New Kind of Profile.” Click “Get it Now,” and that’s it.

Take a look at this video featuring the all-new Facebook TimeLine Profile.



While the new design is sure to make a few people unhappy, my sense is that most users will embrace it, and while Facebook will allow folks to not switch for some time, everyone will eventually have to switch to the new profile page, so as usual it’s a “like it or leave it” proposition that has worked so far for Facebook.


Blown away with this Timeline feature in Facebook? Share your opinions and reactions . We'll surely get back to ya' soon..!!