Facebook Rolls Out Business-Friendly Profile Changes

by    |   6th Dec 10 2:15 pm   |   12
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Facebook Facelift e1291670030889 Facebook Rolls Out Business Friendly Profile ChangesFacebook today unveiled the new Profile Pages which provide a compact listing of user’s personal information and a set of recently tagged photos. The new Profile View is especially well-suited for the business world as it provides a quick sneak peek into a user’s relevant information rather than being presented with useless information such as friend list, videos and wall posts.

Facebook has increasingly gained traction amongst the business fraternity in the last couple of years. It has launched several features such as Facebook Groups, Deals etc. launched exclusively for the business world. The idea is simple – provide a conducive environment for businesses to add value to their online presence.

Profile Changes

The new profile view on Facebook is all about summing up a user’s profile in few words and images. Whether it’s finding which university a user attended or which company is he/ she working for, all the relevant information is available right there in well organized format.

The profile updates also streamline a user’s relationship aspects. The new profile lets users list the important people in their life, like parents, siblings, spouse, roommates, or friends. Further, the friendship page displays a history of a user’s relationship with their Facebook friends.

Facebook vs. LinkedIn

Forbes believes that the latest set of Facebook changes will give LinkedIn a run for its money. While I don’t reckon Facebook to be a competitor for LinkedIn, at least in the near future, I do agree that the new changes seem to be inspired by the business world. The profile looks like a mini-resume with all the important information available without having to click anywhere.

Amongst other information, the updated Profile shows a user’s education, current organization, languages spoken etc. The profile settings are customizable and you can even list your school subjects or college projects to appear on your profile. I certainly believe that these changes will help recruiters and headhunters to scan candidates quicker than ever.

As an active social media loyalist, I often connect with like-minded individuals on Facebook and I’m happy to say that the new set of changes will make my life much easier. The new Facebook profiles are more intuitive and informative as compared to the earlier views.

A Visually Enriching Experience

I particularly like the change to move the recently uploaded and tagged pictures on top of the profile page as it gives visitors an idea of what’s been going on lately in your life. I’ve always maintained that social networks thrive on the user experience aspect. While Twitter has relied on simplicity, Facebook has always adopted a more flamboyant approach.

The recent changes are a welcome change to make Facebook profiles a visually enriching experience without overburdening the user with un-necessary information.

Have you turned on the new view on your Facebook profile? Do you like the new profile changes on Facebook? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you think that the updated Facebook profile is better-suited for the business world? Please share your opinion by leaving a comment below this post.

Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist. Founder and Chief Editor of Smedio! A Canadian Bestselling Author, Marketing Strategist, Speaker and Trainer, Who Loves Technology
  • Cabbageheadchris

    New profile page is a complete bag of shite!

  • Daas

    Where is this magical new profile view?

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      It’s just being rolled out and it’s not yet available to everyone yet, especially those users without photos on their account and still on “In Progress” status. Check to see if this is the case with your account.

  • http://twitter.com/BluKatDesign BluKatDesign

    I don’t think it is business friendly at all!!! ALL of my IMPORTANT links are gone ( that box under my profile pic), all of my tabs are gone, my Etsy tab gone! I have no way to get my friends to visit my shop, my website, my blog, or even my facebook fanpage unless I spam them now!

    • http://diyblogger.com/ Dino Dogan

      Im with you BluKat….only recently have I been forced to reconsider building an email list…its really the only thing you have control over (twitter, facebook, etc change things and will be gone in 3 yrs anyway).

      But I dont want to spam people either so I think its best to continually dump value down their gullet until they cry “ENOUGH!!! …We’ll buy something from you now” lol

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      Actually Blukat, the new profile changes gives you more room to have more info on on your profile page. Go under “Edit Profile” to add more info than you could have been able to before. Look for the “Basic Information” tab and you’ll find an “About Me” box that gives you freedom to express yourself.

      When anyone is interested in knowing more about you, they would click on the “Info” card icon to see information you are willing to share.

      I hope this helps.

      • http://twitter.com/BluKatDesign BluKatDesign

        No it does not help at all; I do not want my links hidden . Nice to be able to add one more link though but who is going to look?

      • http://twitter.com/bentrealm Christina Nabity

        She’s right people rarely look at that let alone scroll all the way down to the bottom of the info tab for the links. Much of that was available to do on the info tab before. the little box below the picture where you could put what you most wanted people to know about you was one of the most useful bits on the whole profile, now even though the new profile is slicker etc it has lost a very important function and forces the profile owner to choose between a more engaging profile look and the ability to instantly show people “hey yeah I have a website this is what I do”. And it’s making it more necessary to message & status the crap outta that info to the people on the friends list if you want to get it out there, not that I’m going to, but spam starts looking like an option to some who it wouldn’t have when they change key components like that one. The omission of that little box is a step backwards.

  • http://www.newmoov.com New Moov Media

    Facebook sort of sucks for business people. All this BS about you have to be real friends with everyone is a bit much to take :)

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      Sometimes it’s not the tool, but the user of the tool. Just like every other tool, there’s the right and wrong way to use it. I remember when I first started using photoshop and many other softwares, they seem messy and foreign to me until I figured them out through study and persistence.

      Facebook is a great tool and it could be very useful in myriad of ways. You don’t have to be friends with everybody but you can foster a relationship a lot of people with Facebook.

      Keep hanging on and you’ll get the hang of it soon :)

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  • http://twitter.com/bentrealm Christina Nabity

    yeah the new profile is nice. However I was very disappointed that it removed my little info box (the one below the display picture). In that box I had a link to my website, my facebook page, & my Twitter. All 3 of which are extremely important to be displayed prominently towards the top of the profile since most people will not even click on your info tab let alone scroll down to the bottom to see your links. It was invaluable having those links towards the top of my profile & having it stay there thru multiple tabs. Especially if you have a business. I’m a writer & an artist, it’s very important to me that those links are allowed to have prominence on the profile. I often socialize with other online shopkeepers on their pages which those comments always link back to my profile (though I wish they’d go to my page more often than not) having the link to my FB page right there made it easy for other page owners to quickly jump to my page to return some attention. The tabs allowable on the profiles no longer allow us to put our shops on the profile tabs. It’s in many ways becoming less business friendly than it used to be….