It's touching off a lot of talk and a lot of anxiety for many Facebook users. Whether you like it or not, Facebook Timeline, a new profile layout, will go live February 1. This transition is madndatory for all of Facebook's 800 million users.
It's a virtual scrapbook of your life. Facebook Timeline lays out your photos, status updates and videos in chronological order, offering a better sense of who you are.
"Timeline is the story of your life. And it has three pieces. All your stories, all your apps, in a new way to express who you are.", says CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
But, some people are afraid this new layout could drudge up some scandalous snippets from your earlier Facebook days. Timeline goes live February 1 for everyone, and that means you don't have much time to hide or delete those embarrassing party or beach photos.
You'll see an announcement over the next few weeks asking to switch to timeline. Then you'll have 7 days to edit your profile before it goes live.
Now, if you don't want to wait for the alert to pop up on your profile, you can enable timeline yourself, giving you a head start at creating your perfect profile. Go to your profile and type in Timeline in your search box. Click on "Introducing Timeline" and get started.
Add locations and dates to your pictures, highlight and enlarge your best photos. You really also need to think about what to keep private through your privacy settings.
A few things you should keep private, are your personal information, like your phone number , limit who can see your posts, and of course those old photos you don't want anyone to see.
To keep your old posts private, go to 'Privacy Settings', 'Limit The Audience For Past Posts', Manage Past Post visibility, 'Limit Old Post'. To ensure your photo albums are seen by only your friends, click on 'photos' on your profile page, and select friends only in the drop down menu for each album.
And don't forget, you can always ask your privacy questions in the Facebook Help Center.
WKYC-TV