How to Switch to Facebook Timeline
It’s Facebook Friday — each week we’ll offer one tip for leveraging Facebook to increase customer awareness of and engagement with your brand or business. This week we’ll show you how to switch to the new Facebook Timeline profiles, which allow you to highlight big events from years past to yesterday.
Not all business is conducted through Facebook Pages. Some business owners wisely build personal relationships with their customers — especially in small or local businesses. So if you want to keep your personal profile just as up-to-date as your brand’s Page, here’s how to do it. It’s really easy.
That said, if you’re looking to update a business Page instead of a personal profile, we also how an article on how to switch your Facebook Page to Timeline.
Timeline is being added to a few Facebook profiles at a time. If you’re selected, it’s especially easy to switch over. A drop-down will appear when you visit Facebook that will ask you to upgrade to the new profile. Just follow its instructions and you’ll be upgraded.
However, even if you’re not one of the chosen few in the first wave or two, you can still switch immediately. Just go to Facebook’s “Introducing Timeline” page and you’ll see an option to switch over. We told you it was easy!
You’re not done, though. Facebook gives you a 7-day period to get your Timeline exactly where you want it before others can see it. Use this opportunity to hide stories, adjust your profile privacy settings, and change your special Timeline settings.
The first thing you’ll want to do is remove any stories you don’t want people to see. Remember Timeline goes back months or even years, so if you let something slip through ages ago, this is your chance to undo it. You can do this by moving your mouse pointer over the story in the Timeline; two icons will appear in the top-right corner of that story’s panel. Clicking the one on the right — it looks like a pencil — will show the option to remove the story.
Next, add all the major life events you want to feature prominently on your Timeline. These can include new jobs or promotions, new relationships, marriage, children, and much more. You can even add a life event for the first time you met your significant other, or the day you got a new tattoo.
Scroll back up to the top of the Timeline and look at the field where you’d type a new status update. Just above it, you’ll see the “Life event” button. This opens a menu of neat options, and you can even click “Other Event” to add something you think up yourself.
Now you’re ready to take your Timeline live! It takes a bit of maintenance, but it can give your Facebook profile a personal touch it’s never had before. That can be beneficial for both your personal and your professional life.
Was this tip helpful? Do you have any more ideas for getting the most out of Facebook? Let us know in the comments!
Regarding not being able to access the green button to swap to timeline... I tried everything. One went through in this household when Facebook made an invitation when the person logged on. But my page (I've only just signed up in the past two months) just won't. I've looked into it in detail and it seems I haven't provided a mobile number (I just don't want facebook to have it). The other household person hasn't either, but it seems they were just lucky to have received the invite at the time of the 'official swapover'.
So if you want timeline, you haven't put in your phone number and you don't mind giving it, then that's probably the answer. Since I refuse to give my number, it will be interesting to see whether I just stay in the old format forever, or just disappear!
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like