Facebook Timeline: All you need to know

Facebook Timeline, one of the most dramatic changes the social network will see since it started is 'going live'. The Mark Zuckerberg-led networking site has released the feature partially, putting it under a seven-day review for users to 'take a tour' and get familiarised before making it their default profile page.

Timeline was first unveiled by Zuckerberg in September this year, pitching it as a complete rethink of a user's profile page. The feature attempts to use a user's data already inside Facebook as a digital scrapbook.

Facebook users will now be able to scroll back to previous years and see their activity at the time -  what were their status updates, how many friends they made, which pages they liked, which pictures they were tagged in etc.

The company's tie-up with location-sharing startup Gowalla, announced on December 7, is speculated to be governed by the roll out of Facebook's Timeline feature.

Facebook had confirmed in a statement that the Gowalla team is moving to Facebook in January, saying: "While Facebook isn't acquiring the Gowalla service or technology, we're sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time".



Gowalla, launched in Austin, Texas in 2007, is primarily a social mobile app allowing users to check in locations they visit with photos and other contents.

Here are some things you should know about the new Facebook -

SEVEN-DAY REVIEW PERIOD
Once upgraded, Facebook users will be able to work through their Timeline and get things ready before it goes public. During the seven-day review period, the Facebook user will be able to publish it at any time. If he or she chooses to wait, it will automatically go live after the week is up.

MANDATORY CHANGE
Facebook Timeline will eventually go live for everyone on Facebook. The feature is allowing you a 7-day review time to prune and optimize the Timeline view.



COVER PHOTO
The most striking feature at the top of the new Facebook profile is the cover photo, which stretches across the page's width. The Facebook user's profile photo, which is seen across the site, is now just a small square.

INFORMATION SHARING
Yes, Timeline is bringing back a bunch of old posts. But these posts have long been viewable on Facebook. Before, a friend would have had to go to a profile and click again and again for more posts, but would eventually travel back in time.

PRIVACY SETTINGS
These remain the same. A post shared four years ago, set to be viewable to just friends, will continue to remain so.



EXPANDED POSTS
Timeline already tries to guess which of your posts will be the most interesting and it makes those viewable. It can try and guess here by how many likes or comments a post has received. If there is a post that should be expanded and is not - like a new job or college graduation - you can expand it.

ACTIVITY LOG
It is the best place to edit your Timeline. Accessible via the profile page, it shows every single piece of content Facebook has from a user. Each item can be deleted or tweaked from this page.

'ONLY ME'
If there is a post in your Timeline that you don't want to zap completely from Facebook, but don't want anyone to see, you can change the post's visibility to 'Only Me'.

LIFE EVENTS
Facebook is hoping that users flesh out their Timeline with information from B.F. (Before Facebook), too. Anything added to the Timeline can now be given a date. So, if a user uploads an old photo from summer camp, he or she can set the date to June 1995 so that it appears chronologically in the Timeline.