Facebook Timeline as a virtual resume

If you haven’t upgraded to the Facebook Timeline, you should. Especially if you are looking at applying for jobs. Not only does Timeline give you the chance to clean up your past sins (read: party pics, drunken replies and posts out of context), but it also now gives you the chance to post life events.

First, let’s address the past sins. Be critical of your Facebook history. Spend a few hours looking over the past posts, particularly from very early Facebook. Do they even make sense? Does the picture imply something you didn’t mean for it to? Did you not even know your ex-best friend tagged you in that post? Now instead of deleting these items click the pen (or pencil depending on your interpretation), which takes you to edit or remove.

Which will then bring up an option for you to hide from Timeline, taking it of your wall.
Or if you would rather it just be gone forever, click delete post. Do this for all of your pictures, posts, comments and likes (particularly pages you liked and past groups you belonged to). Yes, it is time-consuming, but it is worth it.

Once you’d taken care of your past sins, it’s now time to brag about your past accomplishments. Think of this second part like your expanded work history. If it goes on your resume, add a life event for it. So add a life event for the prestigious scholarship you received, the outstanding award you won and anything else you would talk about in a job interview. If you have photos to go with these events, upload them.

To do this, click on life events, which will bring up an expanded drop down menu. You’ll see that Facebook has kindly put the categories together for you.
You can and should make your Facebook page into something you aren’t embarrassed about.

Facebook: Timeline

Facebook revealed a new way to archive your life today during Facebook F8. You can read about it here from USA Today.

The basics are that soon you’ll be able to share your life from birth archived by years in what Facebook calls a Timeline. The years will highlight what Facebook deems important events from that year. Which means there is no longer a time before Facebook and the age 13 consent goes out the window, which according to this article in Science Daily, it may already be irrelevant because about 7.5 million users are younger than 13.

Is the next step parents transferring the content about their child’s birth, first steps, etc. to the child’s profile?

While the theory is you will have control over your timeline, if you are really adding things since birth and your friends are adding content items of you since birth, how much control do you really have?

” You can feature items in your Timeline, and add or remove items,” states this Gizmodo article on Facebook F8 announcements. “Control of who sees an item in your timeline is also available. This is an important step to assure that Facebook’s recent subscription feature doesn’t expose a users private photos with total strangers. So expect to start spending hours fine tuning your Facebook life which is exactly what Facebook wants. You spending hours and hours adjusting your online history for your friends.”

I don’t have hours and hours to add more than 20 years of content, nor do I want others adding that content for me. I already approve photos and posts before they’re public. However, my concern isn’t so much about me as it is those who have had Facebook since they were 13.

All of those high school photos, college photos, poor choices, bad taste status updates are archived forever. How will that affect their future?