Facebook makes member profiles more personal

[Refugee 7]

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Facebook is giving the profiles of its 500 million members a much more personal touch.

The social-networking giant on Sunday began rolling out a radical redesign of user profiles that is designed to more clearly define the interests of individuals and display relevant information about who they are.

It is also sure to be a powerful enticement for advertisers and marketers, say analysts.

"Our profiles didn't give a sense of who (people) are," says Peter Deng, a product manager at Facebook. "This provides a better snapshot of you."

Now, information such as one's employer, hometown, marital status, education and birth date are prominently displayed at the top of a profile.

Navigation tabs on the left side of the profile page, when clicked, prominently display friends, photos and roommates. A new section lets users list their favorite teams and people who inspire them.

The makeover puts a premium on personal data that often can be buried in one's profile, Deng says. Users will receive a notification at the top of their profile.

The new look was disclosed during a 60 Minutesfeature on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that aired Sunday night.

It might also be an invaluable tool in creating richer demographic information about individuals for targeted advertising, says Marissa Gluck, an analyst at Radar Research, who closely follows Facebook.

"There definitely seems to be a push to increase the data in profiles and make them more visual," she says. "The ads are also more prominent and almost have parity with profile info."

Facebook is expected to collect $1.28 billion in worldwide advertising revenue this year, up from $665 million in 2009, researcher eMarketer says.

Facebook's new profile page should curry favor with its developers, too.

The redesign is the latest in a flurry of new features by Facebook in its aggressive pursuit of users and advertisers. Advertising accounts for most of Facebook's revenue, says Charlene Li, an analyst at Altimeter Group.

In recent months, it has revamped its messaging service, added an online check-in application for people to share their location and introduced a groups function for specialized conversations.

[SingsInFrench 262]

Hmmm, interesting.

[nurktwin 2,143]

if you ask me they are just exploiting ppl more and letting EVERYONE get more info about you. let alone a hell of a lot more junk emails that No one needs!!

[Beamish 0]

Now, information such as one's employer, hometown, marital status, education and birth date are prominently displayed at the top of a profile.

Navigation tabs on the left side of the profile page, when clicked, prominently display friends, photos and roommates. A new section lets users list their favorite teams and people who inspire them.

Facebook is expected to collect $1.28 billion in worldwide advertising revenue this year, up from $665 million in 2009, researcher eMarketer says.

Bite it, Facebook. If I had wanted that stuff displayed prominently, I wouldn't have set my profile to private. Anyone who's my friend on there either already knows my personal information or doesn't need to know it. Advertisiers don't market to people like me anyway, so they don't need to know my business.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Beamish

[Mudcrutch 285]

if you ask me they are just exploiting ppl more and letting EVERYONE get more info about you. let alone a hell of a lot more junk emails that No one needs!!

What emails?

[nurktwin 2,143]

you don't get junk mail?????

[Mudcrutch 285]

you don't get junk mail?????

If you are talking about the alerts (like when someone tags you, etc.) all those can be turned off.

[nurktwin 2,143]

no, that's not what i was talking about.

[WildflowerNJ 136]

It does not look any different to me....

[Beamish 0]

My sister has already switched over to the new layout. I have to admit that it does look snazzy. If they still allow me to leave my profile info out of sight, I might just try it out.

[DCAHNM 0]

As long as my privacy settings (aka my family can't see my wall) stay the same, I think it will be okay. I'm not loving it yet.

[Refugee 7]

Not sure I like it.

[SingsInFrench 262]

I opted into the new layout. Privacy settings are the same. No one sees any info you have set as private. I just think the profile page is nicer with the recent photos. More info is on the page instead of having to go to the info tab. I like it!

[Beamish 0]

^ I'm gald to hear about the privacy settings, but I don't want any other photos on my wall. Did it give you the option to switch back if you didn't like it ?

[SingsInFrench 262]

You don't have to opt in now if you don't want to. But I think everyone's profile will change sometime after the new year. You can delete from the profile page any photos you don't want on there.

[conmae 0]

What happened to the status update being displayed on your profile?

[SingsInFrench 262]

^ I didn't notice that. Is it gone? That's not good.

[DCAHNM 0]

Ok, I switched over. I don't like it. Once you switch over, you view everybody's profile is the "new way" whether they have switched over or not.

[Magnolia 171]

if you ask me they are just exploiting ppl more and letting EVERYONE get more info about you.

i get what you're saying but don't forget Facebook is strictly voluntary. You can remove info or delete your account whenever you like.

[Pawie 6]

Here we go again. MySpace did this to an extent I don't even bother going there again.

I hope FB won't do the same mistake....

[AngelDream 16]

I'm thinking of just leaving FB, only reason I went there in the 1st place was cuz brother-in-law's wife wanted me to do FarmVille...Can't access it anymore. I don't want FB to be "following" me around, even tho you can put as "private", I feel like nothing is "private" on there.

[Beamish 0]

What happened to the status update being displayed on your profile?

Look for the option to comment. It's there with some other options at the top, without the status box.

My problem with removing excess photos is that they'll probably just rotate 6 other ones up afterwards. Even with my settings being friends-only, I still don't want them displayed.

As for anything on the internet being truely private. . . if you've listened to private investigators speak about Google- how easy it is to get info from them and what they hand over to advertisers and employers about you- you wouldn't post much of anything online. That's why my FB tends to be rather sedate.

[Beamish 0]

Oops, I misunderstood what you were asking, Conmae. I can see my friends' status updates on their walls, even though they've upgraded- the updates are still at the top, as usual.

Edited December 10, 2010 by Beamish

[Refugee 7]

I'm not too happy with this new "improvement". :099:

[Beamish 0]

^ Your wall looks good, though. FB changed my layout yesterday, and I'm happy to see that none of my photos are displayed on it.