How to Use Timeline

How to Use Timeline

Sure you might think that you already know how to use Timeline, but we want to show you how to do so without annoying your fans.  There are a lot of ways to experiment with Facebook’s new Timeline, however you don’t want everyone to be able to see your trial and error efforts.  Also if you think that you are going to be able to avoid the Timeline all together, think again, because eventually everyones page will be converted to the new design.  So you may as well learn some tips now on how to use Timeline.

How to Use Timeline | Make Quiet Changes

We’ve showed you some ways to make your Timeline aesthetically pleasing using various tools and even explained a lot of the new functionalities in other articles.  However if you are using your Facebook page as a part of your business, its really important to make quiet changes to your page rather than have your updates show up on your contact’s pages every five minutes.  Thats enough to turn anybody off.

How to Use Timeline | Don’t Publish Immediately

While you’re deciding on what to include for your cover picture or your featured events, go ahead and try several things before you hit publish.  That way you can do your trial and error, without putting it on display for all to see.

How to Use Timeline | Choose Your Cover Picture Wisely

The Facebook cover picture is very large, so you’ll want to choose a picture that corresponds well with the size.  If you are unsure of what to pick, there are a number of sites where you can choose your new cover picture.  For example, CoverPhotoFinder is a great resource to find pictures that fit the landscape style of the cover picture.

How to Use Timeline | The Tour

In Mashable’s recent article on how to use Timeline, they explain why its a good idea to go ahead and take the tour before you get started with your design:

Facebook has an easy-to-follow “Tour” feature that walks you through how to set up Timeline when you’re in preview mode. It recommends you start with your cover picture since it’s the first thing people see on your page. The tour also adds useful information, such as telling you that — similar to profile pictures — cover photos are public, so choose wisely.

How to Use Timeline | Hide Some Things Along the Way

One important thing to remember when learning how to use Timeline is that Facebook chooses what parts of your life to highlight throughout your use of the site.  They do hit the nail on the head at times, I must say.  However there are particular moments that you may want to hide from the Timeline, so make sure to browse your postings over the years and highlight the ones you like and hide the others.

How to Use Timeline | Restrictions

Here’s a good breakdown on how to make some restrictions to your Timeline to assure that you’re in complete control.

The good news is that only you and your friends can post directly to your timeline. But if you want to take it a step further to have full reign over your page, block friends from tagging you in their life events. To do so, open the account dropdown menu at the top-right corner of Facebook and click Privacy Settings. Located next to the “How You Connect” option, click on “Change Settings.” From the dropdown menu next to “Who can post on your wall?” choose “Only Me.” The “How You Connect” section also allows you to customize who can see posts by others on your timeline and who you want to comment.

How to Use Timeline | Bottomline

If you don’t love the Timeline as of yet, I’m sure that it will grow on you, at least I hope (you aren’t going to have much of a choice).  Hopefully now you feel a little more in control now that you know how to use Timeline, let us know if you have any pointers.

Image attribution: https://plus.google.com/116201653914863095717/posts