Are you ready for the new Facebook changes? The new Timeline format will be mandatory starting April 4th. I've been dragging my feet about setting it up, but I found some sites that make it less of a challenge. Facebook is one of the huge foundations of social media, and a presence there is almost an essential for authors.
One nice thing about Timeline is that users get to choose a main photo to highlight. As writers, this is a great way to express your genre or focus on the books you've published. It only takes a few minutes to arrange photos in a powerpoint program and add text if you like. The arrangement I'm thinking about is above.
You'll have until April 4th to tweak your timeline before it goes live (unless you choose to publish it sooner). Some creative types have incorporated their profile photo into their design. Here are some pages with examples to get your imagination running.
If you're not up to speed on what Timeline is, Facebook has a video introduction to give you an idea of what's different from the previous Facebook "wall". For even more details, check out the Timeline Help page.
Here's a page linking to Five sites for customizing your cover photo
A couple of things to note:
+You'll be able to delete anything you don't want seen on your Timeline.
+You can choose who gets to see each post on your Timeline.
+You can highlight posts on your page, which makes them double width. Great for important announcements, or focusing on a particular blog post.
+You have the ability to "pin" a post to the top of your Timeline for seven days.
+When someone arrives on your page, they'll only see the bottom half of your cover photo, unless they scroll up. I may change the placement of my text so it will be seen no matter what.
And if you're concerned about privacy with the new set-up, check out this article on how to take control of your privacy.
If you do Facebook, have you already switched to Timeline? What do you see are the advantages or disadvantages of the new look?
Thanks for very valuable and timely info, Debbie!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips Debbie and great photos for your timeline. I changed to timeline a while back and should probably look at these links.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Les and Stacy. I'll have to check out your timeline pages. I haven't made mine live yet, but I'll work on it over the weekend.
ReplyDelete~Debbie
Perfect timing, Debbie...thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Jarm!
ReplyDelete~Debbie
Nice timeline picture, Debbie. Has a mystical air to it which suits your fantasy genre perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI haven't changed to timeline yet. With each FB change, I've learned to revisit my privacy settings as new functions are added such as tagging, etc. So I can appreciate the link you provided on FB privacy settings.
Great info. Timely. Thank you. :-)
xo
Thanks, Janette! It's hard when everything changes, but your reminder to check privacy settings is a good one!
ReplyDelete~Debbie