Facebook today started rolling out Facebook Timeline worldwide to all users. Timeline is a new feature that replaces the user's Facebook profile page and Wall with the reverse-chronological story of your life.
Timeline is a cross between a visual blog and online scrapbook. Some users have commented that it is reminiscent of MySpace. Timeline was originally unveiled in early September and was scheduled to be public by the end of that month, but it was delayed. However, beta testers (anyone with a developer account who enabled the Timeline feature) have had about 10 weeks to try out the feature and provide feedback to Facebook, so Timeline is actually in much better shape now than when it was originally scheduled to be released.
How to Get Facebook Timeline
1. Go to the Facebook Timeline announcement page.
2. Look for the green button at the bottom right of the screen that reads, "Get Timeline." Click it.
3. Review. You'll now see a preliminary Timeline page. Don't worry! It's not live yet! Only you can see it until you publish it. If you don't press the publish button in seven days, though, it will become visible to your friends if you have a private profile or anyone in the world if you have a public profile.
4. Customize your timeline. You can upload a large splash image to decorate the top of the screen, which I recommend doing first. You can also add life events, photos, and other data from your past that might not be on Facebook already.
5. Edit your timeline. Before you hit "publish," take some time to go through your old posts, photos, and other data to be sure you want it to appear on your timeline. If you don't, you'll have to either delete it or restrict who can see it. Look for the pen icon at the top right corner of every post to make edits.
If you're concerned about deleting things forever, make a back-up copy of your Facebook information before you delete anything. It takes a few hours to complete, but most of that time is spent waiting for confirmation emails. For more, see How to Back Up Your Facebook Data.
For more on Timeline, check out 10 Things You Should Know About Facebook Timeline and the slideshow above. Also see Facebook Timeline and 5 Other Ways to Visualize Your Life Online.