The Strobe Promotions Blog

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg debuted the new profile redesign on 60 Minutes last night. The new profiles are now live, so what do you need to know? Here’s a breakdown of what’s changed and how you can make the most of the new design.

The old Facebook profiles looked very similar to fan pages, with tabs at the top, a list of friends on the left and a Wall in the center.

Here’s what the new ones look like:

Right off the bat, you can see that Facebook did away with the tabbed navigation on top. Instead, there is now a bio section directly under your name that shows the most basic and important information about you: where you work, where you went to school, where you’re from, your birthday etc. Over the next few days as more people get the new profiles, you will see many of your friends updating this info and you should too. Now, you can also easily edit your profile information right in this box.

Photos also play a big role in the new bio section at the top. The past 5 photos that you have been tagged in will automatically show up here. Don’t worry, you can edit this section as well. Simply roll over an undesired photo & a small gray box with an “X” will appear, click that to remove the photo from your top section. Note that it does not de-tag you from the photo entirely.

You might also notice that I changed my profile picture when I got my new Facebook profile. It’s not just because someone snapped a flattering photo of me this weekend, I did have a logical reason for this. Facebook now features the profile picture in a larger and more prominent space. The low resolution of my old profile picture did not display well in this new environment. Make sure to check your photos when you make the switch, because nothing is worse than a blurry profile pic or embarrassing tagged photo on Facebook.

The other big changes are housed on the left hand side under your profile picture. The first is how you can navigate the pages of your profile. The navigation options, formerly on tabs and in boxes, are now in a vertical list with corresponding icons. Even though the tabs are gone, you can still get to your profile pages other than the Wall (info, photos, etc.).

Underneath the navigation, you’ll see how your relationships are displayed has changed as well. There is an emphasis on family and close friends as you can even choose who is displayed in your friend list. Think of it as a serious upgrade to the MySpace “Top Friends” concept.

This new design is another example of how Facebook has done a great job of constantly evolving its platform to stay ahead of trends and not become stale like some of its predecessors. While this update doesn’t affect brands as much as consumers, it’s a sure sign of more changes to come.

Don’t have the new profile yet? Click here to get it. Then, stop by Strobe’s Facebook page to let us know what you think of the redesign. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts!