So, what’s the No. 1 question readers ask me about Facebook’s new Timeline feature? Yep, you guessed it: how to delete it. The answer? Sorry, can’t be done, despite what some shifty apps and websites will tell you.

But while you can’t remove Timeline from your Facebook account, you can at least make the most of it—and indeed, you can customize the look and feel of your Timeline page to an almost obsessive degree.

Read on for five ways to take charge of your Timeline, from changing your “cover” to hiding any “life events” you’d rather not share with the world.

1. Add or edit your cover

Adding a cover photo is a quick, easy way to customize your Timeline; you can also swap out or reframe an existing cover.

The first thing that visitors to your Timeline will see is a big, bold image that dominates the page—your “cover,” a picture that “represents who you are or what you care about” (as Facebook puts it). Think of it as wallpaper for your Timeline, as opposed to a standard profile picture of your smiling (or not) mug.

To get started, click the “Add a Cover” button at the top of your Timeline page—or, if you already have a cover, hover over it with your mouse and click the “Change Cover” button that appears.

You can either upload a new photo or choose an existing picture in one of your Facebook albums, and you’ll also get the chance to fiddle with the image so it’s framed just the way you like.

What you choose as your cover is up to you, of course, but keep in mind that your Timeline cover is public, meaning anyone—even non-Facebook users—will be able to see it. Don’t like that idea? Then keep your cover blank.

2. Update your personal info

Just click the "About" link to change the personal info displayed on your Timeline, or to hide it from strangers.

Just below your inset profile picture on your Timeline, you’ll find a series of little factoids about … well, you. For example, the bullet points on my Timeline include a) my job title, b) where I went to school, c) where I live now, and d) the name of my better half.

Related: 5 privacy tips for locking down your Facebook Timeline

Not happy with what you’re seeing? Then click the little “About” link to jump to your personal information page, and click the “Edit” button at the top of any section you want to tweak. Pay special attention to your privacy setting in the top-right corner of each section; by clicking those icons, you can determine which bits of personal info can be seen by everyone, just your Facebook friends, or only you.

All done? Go back to your main Timeline page to check the results. You can also view your Timeline as others see it by clicking the settings button beneath your cover image (it’s over to the right, marked with a small gear icon) and selecting “View as.”

3. Rearrange your Favorites

You can swap or remove any of your Timeline favorite tiles, save for the Friends and Photos boxes.

Right next to your personal information sits a row of four tiles, which most likely include items like Friends, Photos, Map, and Likes, and just to the right of the fourth tile sits a small button stamped with a number. Click the button, and you’ll reveal even more tiles—perhaps many more, depending on how many apps you’ve installed in your Facebook account.

These boxes are your Favorites, and you can (for the most part, anyway) mix and match them as you see fit. Just hover your mouse over a tile and click the edit button that appears (it’s market with a little pencil) to swap the position of one favorite with another, or to delete a favorite completely. You can also add new favorites by click the “+” button on any blank tiles.

Two favorites that can’t be rearranged or deleted, however, are Friends and Photos. That said, you can effectively remove your photos from your Timeline by tweaking your photo privacy settings. And as far as your Friends list is concerned…

4. Change the visibility of your Friends list

While you can’t eliminate your Friends list from your Timeline favorites, you can hide it from the world—mostly, at least.

Click the Friends favorite tile, click the “Edit” button at the top of the main Friends page, then choose a new privacy setting from the pop-up that appears—anything from “Public” to “Only Me.”

One thing to keep in mind: even if you choose “Only Me” as your Friends list privacy setting, anyone who visits your Timeline will still see a Friends tile with any mutual friends the two of you happen to have. Yep, annoying, but that’s the way it is for now.

5. Tweak your Timeline stories

You can edit, "feature," or hide just about any story in your Timeline.

Scroll down below your cover photo and favorites and you’ll see the massive timeline of all your updates, wall posts, photos, and other Facebook events of note. These are your Timeline “stories,” and they’re all neatly arranged in (natch) chronological order.

Related: How to keep Facebook’s new “Open Graph” apps from (over-)sharing your activity

See any stories you don’t like (like, say, a particularly unflattering photo that a friend tagged you in), or anything you want to highlight (such as the day you got married)? Hover your mouse over an event until you see the little “Edit” pencil appear; click it to hide an event from your Timeline, change the date, add a location, or delete the post altogether. Keep in mind that the edit options vary depending on the post; for example, while you can hide a friend’s post in which you’ve been tagged, you won’t be able to delete it altogether.

Some posts will also display a button marked with a star when you hover your mouse over them; click the “Feature” star to expand the item to fill both columns in your Timeline, perfect for highlighting, say, your new job, those adorable snapshots of your newborn, or a litany of birthday wishes from your Facebook friends. You can also shrink a “featured” Timeline story down to size by clicking the star button again.

6. Add some life events

You can add "life events"—anything from a recent vacation to a broken bone—to your Timeline.

A great way to make your Timeline your own is by adding so-called “life events”—anything from a new job or buying a house to getting a tattoo or losing weight.

To add a new life event, just click the “Life Event” button at the top of your Timeline, just below your cover photo and favorites. You’ll get a menu of options, from “Work & Education” to “Travel & Experiences,” with sub-options under each main heading. Pick the event that you’d like to add, or create your own by selecting the “Other Life Event” option.

You can change the privacy setting for any event you create, of course, as well as add a photo, a location, or tags for your friends. (I went ahead and tagged my wife in the “life event” for our wedding, for example.)

It’s also worth noting that Facebook will add certain life events to your Timeline automatically, including jobs and schools listed on your profile and even the very day you were born—and for any of these automatic events, you can go ahead and add photos, change details, or tweak their privacy settings.

Have more questions about Timeline? Let me know!

Tagged as: Facebook, Timeline