Facebook has announced what many will see as its biggest overhaul yet at its annual F8 developer conference. Called Facebook Timeline, it gives you a much prettier, more visual profile page to share your Facebook life and will be rolling out to the 800m, and counting, Facebook users in the coming weeks.   

Forgive us for being presumptuous, but we know you can’t wait that long. You want the new features now, don’t you? So here, using a fully legit, but somewhat cunning workaround, is how you can get the new Timeline profile right now.

Step 1: Become a developer

Log in to Facebook and in the search box at the top of the page type in the word “developer”. Click on the top result and install the app. That’s right you are going to join the 900,000 Facebook developers out there.

Why? Because developers have been given access to the new Timeline profile so they can test out their apps with the new feature. Don’t worry you aren’t really going to have to develop anything, not unless you want to.

Step 2: Create a new app

To fool Facebook into believing you are a developer you’ve at least got to go through some of the motions. On your new developer page, click "+ Create new app".

Give your fake app a name and an app space name in the boxes provided. Fill in the Captcha request. They can be anything, nobody will care and it’s not listed anywhere.

Step 3: Open Graph

In the main left-hand column on the page there is a link that says "Open Graph" click on it and then fill in the two boxes in the main section of the page. 

You are defining an action and a result for your fake app. It doesn’t matter what you write and there are plenty of suggestions if you’re feeling decidedly unimaginative.

Step 4: Return back to your profile

Return back to your main profile page and you’ll be prompted with a dropdown message that asks whether you want to "Get" the new Timeline feature. Say yes, obviously, and you’re done.

Step 5: Customise your new Timeline

All that’s left to do is customise your new swanky magazine style profile adding a big picture "cover" and seeing how many friends you made in 2008, for example. You can add details to the Timeline in the past to fill in the decades that you've enjoyed before you joined Facebook; we're betting some will really go to town with this.

Step 6: Brag to your mates

Before you go crazy and brag to your mates as to how clever you are, it’s worth noting that only developers can see the new look Timeline at the moment. So you either have to convince them to also become a developer or wait until the new feature is rolled out to everyone. Of course, the bonus for the latter is that you’ll be looking all shiny and ready to roll when that does happen.

Now you've got the new Timeline - here's what it's all about: Facebook explored: New design features explained