Facebook has rolled out its new Timeline feature to the masses.

This ultra-illustrative, chronological listing of posts, photos, shared links, check-ins, and more is a radically different arrangement than the Facebook profile you've been used to.

And now that your life can be exposed for everyone to see -- and scrutinize -- you may be interested in curating the new interface. Once you've activated Facebook Timeline (go here to do so), you've got seven days to tweak it to make sure it's just how you like before it goes live for everyone to see.

Below are five quick tips on how to personalize, privatize, and generally get the most out of Facebook's newest feature. It doesn't take long to master the new interface, and it's an important exercise for anyone interested in, well, reputation management.

1. Privacy 101: How to hide things

You probably already know that Facebook has controversial positions on privacy. So you may now find that some things included on your Timeline are best kept from curious eyes. This could be anything from an embarrassing status message you posted in simpler social media times, to a rant your ex left on your wall a few months ago.

To hide a Timeline element, click the pencil icon at the top of the offending post, then choose "Hide from Timeline." Easy.

And please note: Any privacy settings you've already set still apply to the Timeline interface. So the photos of you getting wild at last weekend's kegger are still safe from Mom.

If you prefer to keep your profile public, but don't want everyone to see what you posted back in high school, for example, you can also tweak your Timeline settings more generally. Click the arrow next to your Home button at the top of the screen to access your Privacy Settings. Scroll down to "Limit the Audience for Past Posts," then choose "Manage Past Post Visibility." Now click "Limit Old Posts" -- all

2. Tell your life story: How to add past events

Privacy, schmivacy! Perhaps, you want the whole world to know the day you were born, the first time you rode a bike, and that debate club award you got in high school. These events aren't listed on your Timeline, but they can be.

To add a status update, photo, place check-in, or life event to your Timeline, simply hover the mouse over the line in the center of the page until it turns into a plus sign, and reveals the option to add one of those four types of posts.

Now, Facebook can accurately reflect your entire life -- and not just the events that occurred after you first signed on.

3. Add some individuality: How to customize your Timeline

There are a number of ways you can personalize your Timeline so it highlights the posts, pictures and events you cherish most.

First, you can add a cover to your Timeline. Toward the top of your profile, above the buttons where it says "Update Info," you should see "Add a Cover." Once you click that, you can select an image from your photos, or opt to upload a new image. Once it loads, you can adjust the positioning of your cover image.

If you set a cover photo and then decide it's not as great as you first thought, just hover your mouse over the image, and a "Change Cover" option menu will pop up, letting you reposition the image or select a new one.

For photo albums you've created, you can change the primary photo that displays (you could do this before, but now the process is different). Simply click the pencil icon in the upper corner of the album post, and select "Change Primary Photo."

You can also choose to highlight a post -- expanding it from a small, half-page-size post to a wide-screen version — by selecting the star icon in the post's upper-right corner. Conversely, you can click the star on a maximized featured post to make it normal again.

4. Appearances matter: How to check out your Timeline from different angles

If you decide to make a number of posts and photos private or hidden from your Timeline, you can still get the full, complete view of your Facebook action history.

On your Timeline, click "Activity Log." There you'll find posts and information you need to review before it publishes to your profile, as well as a complete look at your interactions on Facebook. This is log completely private to you.

You can choose to filter what you see by clicking the "All" dropdown menu at the top. You can choose to see only your posts, posts by others, posts from specific Facebook apps ("Hmm, let's look at my past Farmville accomplishments"), photos and more.

Like before, you can also check how others view your profile. Next to "Activity Log" is a cog icon. Click that, and you can choose "View As..." and either enter a friend's name or click the "public" link to see how your profile looks to strangers.

5. Information overload: How to organize friends and filter updates

Now that your Timeline is all straightened out, you might as well do some house cleaning on what shows up in your Newsfeed.

When you add a friend or follow someone's public updates, Facebook automatically sets the level of posts you see to "Most Updates." You can change this by going to that profile, and clicking the "Subscribed" button. You can change it to "Only Important" updates or "All updates," and you can also filter what types of posts you're interested in seeing: things like life events, status updates, or photos.

And if you haven't done so already, you can organize friends into lists, a la the Google+ Circles feature. Facebook Lists rolled out in September.

Just go to the left-hand side of your Newsfeed page, click "More," and toward the bottom you'll see "Lists." You can add friends individually to lists like Close Friends, Family, or Co-workers. You can click "More" next to Lists to add other lists of your choosing — "Acquaintances," "Poker Club Members," you get the picture.

The average Facebook user has 130 friends, but I'd venture to say that most of you reading this have far more than that, so this will help streamline your Facebooking experience.

One last thing: If you're one of those people who's still into "poking" your friends, you can still do that. Go to your friend's profile, and the Poke option is listed under a gear cog dropdown menu next to "Message."

A group of hackers claiming to represent Anonymous’s Antisec movement hijacked two Gmail accounts belonging to a retired California Department of Justice cybercrimes investigator, now a private investigator, and on November 18 published 38,000 private emails and identifying contact information online.

Among the data published by the hackers in a torrent file were two versions of what appears to be Facebook’s guidelines for law enforcement agencies, according to Public Intelligence, a collaborative research website dedicated to the freedom of information.

Specifically, the documents posted by the hackers and made available on the Public Intelligence website are two different versions of instructions on how agencies should submit subpoenas and requests for user data from the world’s largest social network, one of them dated 2010 and the other, shorter document dated November 2006.

Sources close to Facebook told TPM that the newly revealed guideline documents are “outdated,” and that an updated set of law enforcement guidelines is scheduled be made publicly available to all users on Facebook’s Help Center late Wednesday.

The 2006 document notes that Facebook will not provide any user data without “a valid subpoena or warrant,” while the 2010 document states that the social network requires “a valid subpoena or a legal document with equivalent authority issued through your local court system.”

Federal warrant rulings permitting law enforcement agencies to obtain Facebook data have surged in recent years, Reuters reported, with federal judges granting over 24 warrants since 2008.

The newly revealed 2010 document expressly discourages law enforcement officers from creating phony accounts, even for undercover investigations: “We encourage you to report false accounts to Facebook, and discourage any use of false accounts by law enforcement,” the document states.

Both the 2010 and 2006 documents explain how agencies need to first locate a Facebook user’s or group’s unique ID number, which is easily seen in the URL after the letters “id” or “gid.”

The documents state that a law enforcement agency must submit this information to Facebook in order to retrieve information about the account in question. According to the documents, Facebook can then provide agencies with “basic subscription information (BSI)” which includes a user’s email address, mobile phone number (if provided by the user in their Facebook account), the date and time their account was created, and the most recent login times.

The 2006 document states that Facebook can provide a user’s “Neoprint,” which is described as an “expanded view” of a profile, including “all wall postings and messages to and from the user that have not been deleted by the user.” Facebook can, according to the document, also provide “a compilation” of all of a user’s photos and all of a user’s contact information that’s been uploaded, even if it doesn’t appear in their publicly viewable profile.

As far as Facebook Groups, the social network can provide a list of all users in the group, contact information and the current status of the group page, the 2006 document states.

Importantly, though, Facebook points out in the 2006 document that it cannot provide any user data that has already been deleted by the user before the time of the request. That’s seemingly at odds with the deleted data that Facebook turned over to an Austrian user upon request, who later filed a list of complaints with the Irish Data Commissioner, which is now auditing the social network. The 2010 document contains no mention of deleted data.

In addition, Facebook can reportedly provide law enforcement agencies with a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) logs, including the user’s unique IP address, the Facebook usernames associated with that IP address, and the most recent times that IP address viewed Facebook. The 2006 document states that Facebook “generally” retains IP logs for the past 30 days.

Finally, the documents state that the “Facebook Security Team,” may respond to “special requests” for information not contained in the above provisions, as well as provide “emergency disclosures.”

The 2010 document contains a notice that Facebook will immediately disable all user accounts that have been accused of illegal activity, although law enforcement agencies can stop the network from doing this in their request, at least temporarily, by writing “DO NOT DISABLE UNTIL [DATE],” and filling out a corresponding date. This provision is to allow agencies the freedom to continue pursuing an investigation that would otherwise be hindered by shuttering the Facebook account(s).

As Public Intelligence notes, these are actually just the fifth and sixth versions of documents purporting to be the “Facebook Law Enforcement Guidelines” going back to 2007.

Facebook declined to confirm authenticity of any of the prior versions of the documents to Reuters, but the documents contain valid Facebook email and mailing addresses, and the 2010 document contains a Facebook copyright notice.

In addition, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group dedicated to protecting users’ digital rights, obtained several copies of the Facebook guidelines from the Justice Department. The EFF commended Facebook for taking a zero-tolerance approach to enforcing its “no fake accounts” policy, even against law enforcement.

That said, the EFF has also pointed out how a November 10 court ruling ordering Twitter to hand over user information to the Justice Department without a warrant or subpoena could also apply to Facebook.

And the Obama Administration was this year supposed to submit to lawmakers a bill that would allow federal law enforcement agencies the ability to use “back doors” to observe all online communications under wiretap orders, even encrypted communications, according to a New York Times report in October 2010. That legislation has yet to be introduced.

On Thursday, Business Insider reported that China is trying to buy “a huge chunk” of Facebook.

According to the business news website, Beijing approached a fund that buys stock from former Facebook employees to see if it could assemble a stake large enough “to matter.”  Moreover, Citibank is rumored to be trying to acquire as much as $1.2 billion of stock for two sovereign wealth funds, one from the Middle East and the other Chinese.  Business Insider reports a third source, from a “very influential” Silicon Valley investment bank, confirms that Citi is representing China.

Should Beijing be allowed to buy a part of Mark Zuckerberg’s site?  Business Insider tells us there is “little need” for concern about Chinese censors looking at the photos and postings of the 700 million people who trust Facebook with their personal online activity.

First, China’s position won’t be large.  A billion-dollar investment does not buy much influence in a site expected to be worth a hundred times that when it goes public.  Second, Beijing will be acquiring nonvoting stock.  Third, shareholders don’t get the right to look at what’s on the site.  All of these arguments from Business Insider ring true.

Yet they are all beside the point—and there are other reasons to be concerned.  The business site says that “sovereign wealth funds are pretty distinct from their governments.”

Perhaps Norway’s fund is, but not China’s.  The Communist Party, despite three decades of economic reform, insists on its monopoly of political power.  And to maintain that monopoly, it tightly controls its own instrumentalities.  That’s especially true at this moment because the Party is in the midst of the most comprehensive crackdown on society since the 1989 Beijing Spring.  Chinese leaders clearly view social media as a threat to their rule, especially after seeing its force-multiplying effect in the ongoing Arab Spring protests that have toppled governments.

In short, China’s sovereign wealth fund, which is no more independent of the Communist Party than the Beijing municipal government, wants to buy a stake in the world’s most prominent social networking site because Chinese leaders want to control social media.  And they hope to do that as part of their comprehensive campaign to dominate the conversation about China—not just inside the country but around the world as well.

Beijing, during the last decade, announced initiatives to change discourse on foreign university campuses with its Confucius Institutes—now 322 of them—and Confucius Classrooms in elementary and high schools—369 of those.  Moreover, its “go global” initiative is trying to affect news coverage of China by opening bureaus outside the country to internationalize state media, especially Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television, and People’s Daily.

And this is where the Facebook founder is giving Beijing an opening.  Zuckerberg visited China in December and is scheduled to return, perhaps in September, in his bid to access the world’s largest online community, 457 million at last count.

“One big reason American firms stumble in China is that the government tends to favor locals when it comes to regulation,” Business Insider points out.  “One way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to allow the government to own a stake.”

Beijing wants to own stakes in foreign firms because it is trying to control them.  Its ambitions may at the moment look unrealistic to us, but that does not mean swaggering—and strategic-thinking—Communist Party officials do not hold them.

The cocky Chinese are not the only parties deluding themselves.  Zuckerberg, in the words of one reporter, “believes that Facebook can be an agent of change in China, as it has been in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.”  After the disastrous China experiences of Yahoo and Google and the troubled history of Microsoft there—not to mention Beijing’s recent tirade against foreign social media—the Facebook founder appears both arrogant and naïve.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg is reportedly “wary about the compromises Facebook would have to make to do business there.”  If she loses her argument with Zuckerberg and Facebook enters China, the company will eventually be subject to demands to censor its sites, those both inside and outside China.  That’s apparently why the Chinese want to own a big stake in Facebook.  They are, in short, looking for control in the long run.  No other explanation is consistent with the Party’s other media and “educational” initiatives.

Of course, a Beijing-influenced Facebook will be hit by even more bad publicity—and inevitably defections.  Other social networking sites will spring up to capture fleeing users.  The genius of America is that its open and broad market eventually punishes the arrogant and the naïve by allowing choice.

So who says MySpace is dead?  Perhaps Rupert Murdoch sold it too soon.

Last year Mark Zuckerberg set out to learn Chinese. Now he's determined to get in touch with his food. If the goats, lobsters and chickens of Silicon Valley aren't trembling, they should be.

The eyes of a hunter.

When he's not too busy connecting people across the universe, Mark Zuckerberg is pursuing a new "personal challenge," as he calls it. "The only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself," says the Facebook founder and CEO.

It's an odd dietary direction for the 27-year-old Internet billionaire, but since he has taken to killing goats, pigs and chickens, "I'm eating a lot healthier foods. And I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals," he says. "It's easy to take the food we eat for granted when we can eat good things every day."

Zuckerberg's new goal came to light, not surprisingly, on Facebook. On May 4, Zuckerberg posted a note to the 847 friends on his private page: "I just killed a pig and a goat."

This drew a stream of emotional comments, which were a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and outright disgust. Zuckerberg posted his own comment in response, explaining that he fixates on a personal challenge each year (in 2009, he wore a tie every day), and this year's is about animals and meat. (Click here to read Zuckerberg's May 4 comment.)

Zuckerberg's guide on this strange journey has been a well-known Silicon Valley chef named Jesse Cool. She lives in Palo Alto, eight houses away from Zuckerberg, and owns a local restaurant called Flea Street Café. Cool has introduced Zuckerberg to nearby farmers and advised him as he killed his first chicken, pig, and goat. "He cut the throat of the goat with a knife, which is the most kind way to do it," says Cool.

Killing is just the kickoff. After that, the dead creatures go to a butcher in Santa Cruz, who cuts them into parts. Zuckerberg and his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla, have been cooking what he slaughters, eating what many people would not dare consume. He recently ate a chicken, including the heart and liver, and used the feet to make stock. He posted a photo of the bird on his Facebook page, along with a list of the dishes he made from it.

Only Zuckerberg can explain what this is really about. Now in Europe for Facebook meetings, he sent Fortune an email detailing his thoughts:

To start, let me give you some background on what I'm doing. Every year in recent memory, I've taken on a personal challenge -- something to learn about the world, expand my interests and teach myself greater discipline. I spend almost all of my time building Facebook, so these personal challenges are all things I wouldn't normally have the chance to do if I didn't take the time.

Last year, for example, my personal challenge was to learn Chinese. I blocked out an hour every day to study and it has been an amazing experience so far. I've always found learning new languages challenging, so I wanted to jump in and try to learn a hard one. It has been a very humbling experience. With language, there's no way to just "figure it out" like you can with other problems -- you just need to practice and practice. The experience of learning Mandarin has also led me to travel to China, learn about its culture and history, and meet a lot of new interesting people.

This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have. This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals.

I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don't have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from.

While Zuckerberg's new diet hasn't exactly gone viral in the way that, say, Facebook has, he says he's seen some people warming to it: "I was surprised by how many of my friends have interests in some of the areas I'm exploring in such diverse ways. Many are vegetarian, some enjoy hunting and some even farm. My girlfriend is my main partner in this, though, since we eat the most meals together."

Zuckerberg's learning curve has been evolutionary: moving from sea creatures to land animals. His first kill was a lobster, which he boiled alive. He says it was a difficult kill, at least emotionally. He had an entirely new feeling once he took a bite: "The most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it after having not eaten any seafood or meat in a while."

After the lobster, the next animal to fall at his hands was a chicken. What's next on this journey? He's told people that he's interested in going hunting.

Zuckerberg says the new kill-what-you-eat diet hasn't changed his frequent restaurant goings; he just limits himself to places where he can eat vegetarian. There has, however, been one unintended side effect: he notices that when he invites friends over to his house, they're loathe to eat too much of what he's making. He attributes that to them wondering if there's enough to go around. "I guess they feel like I don't have too much meat, so I should eat it myself," he says. "I prefer sharing though." Spoken like a true social media baron.