Shortly after we posted about the new features coming to Facebook, myself and Andy were granted access to the new timeline that Facebook have been developing. Therefore, this is our first impressions of the Facebook Timeline.
The first thing that hits you is the new cover photo. You can select from any of your previous photos that you taken or been tagged in, or upload a new photo if you wish. I’m a big Manchester United fan, so I thought I’d set it to the photo I took from when I went to Old Trafford. It’s a vast cover area and I can see this being used as a nice personal touch.
Next up is the scroll bar that you now see next to your cover photo. It allows you to go through your timeline and is essentially see an entire history of your life. The transitions are smooth and I went back to when I first joined Facebook; 14 November 2006. A lot has happened since then and by travelling through my timeline, you can see what I’ve been saying, what I’ve been sharing and what I’ve been up to. Clicking on any part of the timeline will bring up an option to add a status or life event to Facebook. Life events include getting a new job, moving house, getting a new pet or even breaking a bone. The opportunities for what people can add to this seem to be pretty endless and over the next few weeks I can see a lot of people going through their most cherished memories and adding them to Facebook, which I think is what Facebook are trying to achieve with this new timeline. They went to document your life as it happens and give your friends the chance to cycle through your greatest times. It’s this aspect that might be of concern to quite a few people what with Facebook’s history with privacy control and how much data they contain on all of us. With the new restrictions put in place recently, hopefully this will give the user more choice and put those concerns to rest.
When we are doing anything, Facebook will allow us to add it to our timeline. Reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music or running through the park? Facebook will seamlessly add all the details to your timeline for your friends to check out. This is all possible by adding applications to your timeline. It’s a simple process and once access is granted, you should no longer see the pop ups that got on everyone’s nerves. From there, you can decide what you want to share and how it will be shared on your timeline. So, with Spotify for instance, it might show your top tracks or a few of your playlists that you’ve created.
I’ve only just scratched at the surface with regards to the new features on Facebook here, but hopefully you can see that the potential for this is huge.