Neworld, Great relationships build great brands

Last night Facebook announced a brand new look to user profiles. They have been made more visual, featuring a lot more information to give friends an instant update on what you are at in your life. From a short bio, recently tagged pics, to a new friends section, this is a big change in how profiles operate. You can claim your new profile here. Business pages are also due to get a makeover shortly that will make them look similar to the new profile design.

Overview of the new layout.

The new profile starts with a short bio that includes your birthday, school and where you work. Underneath that is a list of the most recently tagged photo’s you feature in. You can also hide particular photo’s by rolling over them and clicking ‘x’. The navigation of the page has been made easier with all the tabs now located in one position under the profile photo.

The info tab (shown above) has been updated to include more information on your work and education. You can mention specific projects and tag people who you had previously worked or went to college with. Likes and interests have been expanded and are now more visual. Friends have a new tab all to themselves, where they’re listed along with their profile picture. There’s also a search box to find specific friends. When you click on a friend, there’s a new section in the top right column that lists common friends, likes and a link to a see friendship page.

The verdict?

While the layout is certainly cleaner and easier on the eye, each page comes packed with a lot of extra information. Whereas before profile pictures didn’t remain consistent across the profile tabs and sections, they do now. The left column comes with the profile picture, navigation and friends section appearing on all tabs. It also looks slightly narrower. The right column features ‘people you may know’ and adverts. This column is slightly wider, which I think makes all adverts appearing on Facebook consistent in their format – image with text to the right as opposed to below the picture.

It’s the centre section between the two columns that changes as you navigate around the profile. This gives profile pages consistency in how they feel, and make it easier to navigate around. I mentioned more information being crammed into each section and the font used is slightly smaller. It certainly feel’s busier but the addition of more visual elements makes the profile seem cleaner and feels more intuitive to use. This is the biggest change to profile pages for sometime, and I certainly like the new look. It draws you in and almost immediately gives you a snapshot of what your friends are at in their lives. Will the larger user base like the change? It’ll be next year before the new look is rolled out to everybody, but you can upgrade now here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBVa1SFvMyI