Tinkering with Facebook Timeline

Just enabled the Facebook Timeline so I can start tinkering with it right away. Being wary on data privacy, there are things that I want to make sure of such information that I only want to be viewable to myself shall remain as such. More importantly, my connection with friends.

New Facebook Timeline of Janette Toral viewed as another person.

What I like about it so far is the history of Pages "liked" and Groups "joined". There is an option where you can view the individual entries and unlike the pages. But for groups, you really have to visit each one, even if they are already old to "leave group".

Check-in history of Janette Toral via Facebook Places

Maps and Check-in History

Another thing that caught my fancy is the Maps feature where you can have a big picture overview of your check-in history and up to the status update that you posted then.

So like in this case, I was able to view my check-in lately from multiple locations ever since I started using Facebook Places.

Zooming in to the Philippines showed me the check-ins I made from various locations through out the country.

Drilling down further allowed to glimpse my status post in relation to that location.

Philippines check-in history of Janette Toral via Facebook Places

Check-in history from one location as zoomed in via Facebook Places

If there is one suggestion that I could give at the moment, that will be to have an omnibus option to hide all "add friends" activity. In the old timeline, I have already disabled this from appearing in my wall. However, in this new timeline, it is appearing and therefore have to disable it as early as now. When you have reached the friends limit, that can be quite a lot but I am sure it will be all worth it.

New friends added appears in the New Facebook Timeline even if you have disabled this in the current version of Facebook.

When browsing friends who
like your content, you can now
categorize them too.

Facebook Friends List

One old and now an improved feature that I began using Facebook with the new Timeline is the categorization of friends or connections. Those who respond to my content frequently (such as liking or posting comments) are now in a special group. This I check so I can also reciprocate if they share anything of interest.

New likers and commenters are also immediately added there. When you mouse-over a person's name, you just click on the "Friends" button and decide which list do you want this person to belong.

Also put some folks in the close friends list where I immediately receive a notification if they posted anything new. It is a great feeling to be able to respond immediately to content from those who are really important to you.

This is quite important to me. With around 5000 connections on Facebook, one can get overwhelmed with various content being shared. With these new features, you can now be more organized and focus on quality relationships.

So if you see me responding to your content more often than I did before, this is the reason behind it. :)

Facebook Tagging

I have always been annoyed whenever there are people who tag me on photos that is not related to me all. Usually try to find the nearest browser, from a phone or computer, just to untag myself immediately.

Finally, Facebook has done something about it by allowing you to review first any tagged content and decide if you want them to appear on your wall or Timeline. I am sure that a lot of us will be spared from various tagging promotions agony without offending friends or connections.

I think the bottom line with what Facebook has done - is to ensure that new players like Google+ will not look anywhere near it. Making the comparison between the two seems far too wide now. The personalization features got me glued to Facebook more than ever.

It gives the feeling like - I am home.

Silverlight Client for Facebook

I was doing my digital handshake this morning (yes, still not done) when I saw this post from Guada about a client software that can be used to manage your Facebook account.

This is the Silverlight Client for Facebook. On your first visit to the link, it will ask you first to download the Silverlight 4 Beta software. Once installed, you can visit the link again and proceed installing the Facebook client.

What I like about the tool is how it shows you the latest post from friends who emailed you and latest updates from friends in the home page. You can make direct postings from the client software therefore removing the need to log on to your Facebook account from the browser.

However some limitations include:

• Not able to tag friends when making a wall post.
• Can't see likes/comments made for wall post done using the Silverlight Client.
• Can't view groups and fan pages.

I guess this client tool is ideal for users who just wants to view and post basic updates. Then logon to the website for more advanced Facebook activities.

I think having a desktop client software that allows you to do the advance capabilities within Facebook will be popular among its users. I hope a secure powerful application will become available soon.

Are you LinkedIn?

I’m not very friendly by nature, but all this interconnectivity in the online world just makes me verrry sociable. This morning, I signed up for an account at LinkedIn and instantly connected with past and present colleagues who “linked-in” long before I did. I’m not a huge fan of social networking sites. I would only join one if it would serve a greater purpose like promoting my high-school batch’s mailing list (I’m doing this at Friendster) or stalking celebrities I admire (They’re at Multiply). What drew me to LinkedIn is the fact that it’s a networking site for professionals. Through my account, I am able to connect with colleagues in the publishing industry, promote my online projects, and tap future project partners. Neat, huh? No, I don’t have to write cheesy testimonials, but I can vouch for a certain colleague and make recommendations (I'd be happy to do this!).

And while we’re on the subject of networking, did you know that girls are the heaviest users of social networking sites? A survey by Pew Internet and American Life project showed that of 935 youths aged 12 to 17, older teens, particularly girls are more likely to use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Would the case be the same with adult surfers, I wonder? In any case, let’s just hope that these teenage girls would become professionals someday and join LinkedIn. ;o)

How about you? What's your favorite networking site?

Related post:

• Ten ways I use LinkedIn