If you haven’t switched already, you may know someone who has changed to the newest profile design on Facebook; the Timeline. This sleek new design is appealing at first glance, but like any update it can be hard to grasp when first using it. The great thing about this update is that it isn’t automatically set as default. You can easily activate your Timeline by visiting the Facebook Timeline Page or choose not to use it at all. When activating your Timeline, you will have 7 days to make edits or changes to your Facebook profile before it goes live. If you are satisfied with your page, you can publish it sooner by doing so when prompted. The Facebook Timeline is how it sounds, a timeline of past posts, pictures, statuses as well as any other information you have posted or supplied. Let’s take a look into some of the features of the new Timeline.

Large Image. Not only do you have a picture you can set as your profile image, you now have the ability to include an additional picture, much larger in size as your “cover.” Imagine this space as being a billboard to your new Facebook profile design. There have been many amazing concepts implemented by other users to incorporate their profile picture with their cover photo.

Activity Log. Underneath your cover image will be the option to view your activity log. This will not be visible to other users as it is used to help you control privacy settings. If you would like to weed through your past history to either hide or delete posts, images or statuses, you can do so when you click “View Activity.” This will list your history and give you the options to hide or change visibility settings. You may want to browse this section before publishing your new page.

Organization. The layout is very easy to navigate.  Front and center you are able to see information about the user, friends, photos, their check-ins and what their likes are.  Below this section you are able to post to their wall or view their Timeline. Another great feature is the ability to jump back in time to a previous year. This will come in handy for those who “creep” on Facebook as you can easily navigate into their past activity without having to sit for hours weeding through pages of posts.

Drop Down Menu. At first glance this will not be visible. This menu only comes on screen when you scroll down the page, and their Facebook navigation options are no longer in view. It will allow you to filter through the years of their Timeline or give you the option to view a different tab. It makes accessing the user’s entire Facebook page easily accessible no matter what you are viewing.

These are just a few aspects of the new Facebook Timeline that may strike you as new or out of the ordinary. Let’s face it, any update is out of the ordinary but after some time of tinkering around, we all become well versed on how to use it.

But… what will this new profile design mean for businesses? Currently the Timeline has not been released for brand pages, but it is said they will be changed during 2012. Although this new design would be great for business and brand pages, giving them a large cover image to grab user’s attentions, there doesn’t seem to be much room for integrating applications. A majority of the large companies utilizing Facebook have developed apps to use as “landing pages” or promotional contests, which if you have ever viewed a Timeline profile, doesn’t have a designated place.

Being an avid user of social media as well as a manager of brand pages on Facebook, I am eager to see what they will change on the current brand pages. If you have any ideas on what Facebook may have in store for brand pages in 2012, don’t hesitate to post it in the comments!