How Your Facebook Timeline Cover Can Give You The Advantage In Your Social Networking

One of the most interesting things about the new Facebook timeline designs is the large picture area at the top of the screen. This is known as the cover, as it acts as a cover page for the story of your life.

When choosing a timeline cover, you want to pick something that reflects you, whether it's a graphic of yourself, your family, or a graphic that showcases a hobby or interest of yours.

What is the Facebook Timeline Cover?

The timeline cover is an 850px by 315px graphic at the top of your timeline (formerly known as your profile). The concept behind the timeline is it gives a more structured view of your life as presented on Facebook. Every time you've added a friend, changed your relationship status or edited your profile text will be placed on the timeline.

The cover acts as the front page to this story of your life. This is what gives you an advantage in social networking and is so important: think of it as your social media first impression. This cover is especially important so everyone can get a good idea of who you are in a glance.

The cover also addresses an issue that many people who crossed over from Myspace to Facebook criticized: lack of customization . Myspace let users to create fully personalized websites, whereas Facebook only let you upload images , not edit the appearance of the profile. The Facebook cover adds a new level of customization to your page.

What should I use for my cover?

• Use a picture of that's already in your albums. If you do this, you'll want to use a big, high quality picture -- no tiny cell phone images ! This is the first thing people will see when they visit your page, and a grainy distorted graphic won't make a great impression.

• Design your own cover. If you have some graphic design chops, you can make your own cover in whatever graphic processing program you have. Use images , drawings and text to create your own work of art at the top of your timeline.

How to change your cover

1. Look at your Facebook timeline by clicking your name at the top of the Facebook page.

2. Click the "Change Cover" link. This gives you a drop-down menu.

3. If you'd like to use your own picture that's already on Facebook, click "Choose from my images ." This will present you with all your Facebook images.

4. Click "Upload a Photo" to choose an graphic on your computer to use as a cover.

5. Once you've picked your cover image , drag the cover around to reposition it if you need to adjust the position of the graphic.

6. Click the "Done".