Have you seen the new Facebook Timeline for personal Facebook profiles? It’s actually pretty neat once you get used to it … but just like with most of the recent Facebook changes it definately takes some getting used to. If you are wondering why you don’t see this option yet on your profile … don’t worry you are not the only one. Facebook has only released it so far to Facebook developers, the official release date for everyone has been stated to be sometime mid October. But if you are like me and have a hard time waiting for things you are more then welcome to get your’s set up early too … here is a great tutorial on how to do it by Howto.cnet.com. But only other FB developers will see your profile this way till the official release … so there is no rush.
I started playing around with my new “Cover” image by doing a little quick summary of my life right now … what do you think?
The cover image is fairly easy to make if you know how to use a photo editing software like photoshop. Just make your image 850 x 315 and customize it how you want. But to caution you the Facebook rules still apply of not promoting a business on your personal page so make sure you check out the rules and regulations before you create your image. The image will also be auto populated for you when you set up your new timeline on your profile … but having the option to customize it is a great feature to have! If you are interested in a customized “Cover” make sure to message me as this is one of the services I will be adding to my site soon.
Although I think the new timeline is pretty neat it does raise some questions once again about the security of our personal lives and our privacy when it comes to Facebook … and all social media for that matter. The timeline gives people a lot easier way to look back over the past and see exactly what we were doing when .. possibly giving others more information then we had originally intended. Even though Facebook friends always had the ability to scroll back through our past posts the new timeline lays it all out for them giving them a very in depth look into our lives … well that is our Facebook lives … it just proves once again that you need to be very aware of what you post … and be reminded that if you don’t want everyone and their mother to know … then well don’t post it on Facebook!
So what does all this mean for marketers and brands … well as always with Facebook we will have to wait and see. There has also been talk of similar changes being made to Facebook Fan Pages … so I will keep you updated once I know more about those changes coming. But this will definately be a great addition to those of you who use your personal profile as part of your marketing strategy to market your “personal brand”.
For more info on the new Facebook Timeline check out these posts
http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-timeline/
http://mashable.com/2011/09/27/facebook-timeline-pages/
http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebooks-changes-marketers/
What do you think of the new changes? Make sure to leave your comments below!
To Your Success!
Kate Wilber
The Marketing Momma