Earlier today, Facebook announced a plethora of new changes and additions to the popular social network. Things like Facebook Music (partnering with Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, MOG, SoundCloud, Turntable.FM, Slacker, VEVO, etc.), Netflix & Hulu TV coming to only Canada & Japan, offering Social News apps w/ companies like The Washington Post, Yahoo News, The Daily, The Guardian, Digg, etc., and a revamped Profile now called Timeline. The Timeline is just that, a personal timeline which you can scroll through your posts, pictures, etc. from different months and years on Facebook. The Timeline is scheduled to launch officially on September 29th but with a neat little hack, you can access this new feature right now. Keep reading below.
Here is the step-by-step instructions to get your Timeline feature now:
1. Log into Facebook
2. Enable developer mode, if you haven’t already. To do this, type “developer” into the Facebook search box, click the first result (it should be an app made by Facebook with a few hundred thousand users), and add the app.
3. Jump into the developer app (if Facebook doesn’t put you there automatically, it should be in your left-hand tool bar)
4. Create a new app (don’t worry — you wont actually be submitting this for anyone else to see/use). Give your shiny new app any display name and namespace you see fit. Read through and agree to the Platform Privacy agreement. This is the step you need to be verified for.
5. Ensure you’re in your new app’s main settings screen. You should see your app’s name near the top of the page
6. Look for the “Open Graph” header, and click the “Get Started using open graph” link.
Create a test action for your app, like “read” a “book”, or “eat” a “sandwich”
7. This should drop you into an action type configuration page. Change a few of the default settings (I changed the past tense of “read” to “redd” — again, only you can see this unless you try and submit your application to the public directory), and click through all three pages of settings
8. Wait 2-3 minutes
9. Go back to your Facebook homescreen. An invite to try Timeline should be waiting at the top of the page
And you’re done! We’ve seen this work quite a few times now, so it should work without a hitch for just about anyone.
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