Facebook recently changed how 'consumable' actions that post automatically are used. Instead of posting to a user's Timeline as they used to, they will only show in the ticker for friends and other social channels. They do not currently show in the Timeline any longer. For more information on the change, see:
developers.facebook.com/bugs/452585014808810
From what I read on that bug report, they will be adding them to the Timeline again in the future, but in a less prominent way. However, it's a little confusing from their responses.
If your action isn't approved, I'd recommend submitting it to get it approved. It still has some social/promotional value, but it just won't show as prominently as it used to. Other actions, like voting for articles, joining groups, uploading photos, etc should still post to the Timeline. It's just the 'consumeable' actions (reading, watching, listening) that trigger automatically when simply viewing content, do not currently post to the Timeline.
Hope that helps explain,
Alex