Yesterday, Mashable reported that Facebook had made available to Page Administrators the ability to move their Pages to the new Timeline format. Many users will, of course, complain about the changes. (I think that’s written into our agreement with Facebook, that we must whine about UI changes.) But I think it’s awesome and it has the potential to do some REALLY cool things that government agencies (even public health departments) should seriously consider implementing.

See these examples from Mashable:

The timeline of Livestrong’s Page that Mashable was shown began with photos of Lance Armstrong bed-ridden with cancer—powerful stuff. Manchester United’s timeline points to its rich history, with the first entry dating back to 1878. Brands can also call out specific milestones—a first sale, major acquisition or debut of a hit product, for example—by starring them so they appear double-wide.

Think about highlighting awards that your agency has won, or Administration changes, but also big deals that consumed your agency. I’m already considering how I’m going to put the H1N1 influenza timeline (links to news stories from when it hit the news, links to local articles about the first cases here, highlight when the vaccine was available in Philadelphia, add pictures of clinics that were running) so it actually tells the story of the pandemic on our Flu Facebook page. Imagine updating the Joplin Missouri Facebook page with pictures from the day and those initial storm reports. You know, all of those things that we’re too busy to do because we’re, y'know, responding.

Those of you who are paying close attention to my examples above will notice what I’m proposing. I want to write the story of what we have done. Consider that from a crisis communications standpoint. Right now, someone who finds out about a crisis that affected your organization weeks, months or years after it’s happened will scan news articles that probably paint the situation as dire or your organization in a poor light. They will ultimately come away thinking poorly of your organization. Now imagine if they find your Facebook timeline and see all of the steps we took during the crisis and the reasons why you took them; I’m willing to bet if they see your side of the story, maybe they come away thinking a bit better about what you’ve done.

I imagine this process will become standard for corporations with sour bits of history. Governments will take a bit longer. And many will complain that it’s akin to whitewashing, but I believe that unless your organization actually acted with reckless disregard, what I’m recommending is actually transparency. The second side of a one-sided story.

I, for one, can’t wait to take advantage of this amazing new tool. You can learn more about the changes from Techcrunch