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Quick Guide To The New Facebook Profile Layout [IMAGE]

By Mari Smith | January 11, 2011 |

If you logged on to Facebook and discovered your profile is all wonky – fear not, it’s the new design! Facebook first made the upgrade optional on December 5th, but now all users are being automatically upgraded.

The good news is everyone on Facebook is facing the same learning curve with the new design. The not-so-good news is that you’re now stuck with the new design and there is no turning back, regardless of how much resistance some Facebook users put up. (I upgraded right away last month and have grown quite used to the new design).

[If your profile has not upgraded yet, you may choose to upgrade here: http://www.facebook.com/about/profile/ – which I highly recommend you do, because everyone on Facebook who has the new profile will be viewing YOUR profile the new way and there are many new components you’ll want to have control over.]

Here is a marked up screenshot (click to enlarge) explaining the primary changes on your new profile:

New Facebook Profile Design

New Facebook Profile Design

Review of changes:

  • Mini bio/about me section on the left column under your photo has been removed. 🙁
  • Weblinks no longer show on the left column; they now appear on the Info section waaaay down at the very bottom.
  • Pages you like are now under the Info section under Activities and Interests – you may need to click the “more” link if you joined a lot of pages. (Here’s a handy visual display to easily manage your Likes; unlike and like!)
  • Featured friends – you can add certain Friend Lists in this section. Go to Edit Profile and click “Featured People.” Or, click the edit pencil next to “Friends xxxx.” You can add any Friend List or any Open Group you already created (or you can create new Friend Lists). You can also reorder the lists with simple drag and drop. Be sure to save.
    • IMPORTANT: anyone in a friend list that you choose to feature will get a *notification* that you added them to xyz list. 😉 You might want to just make sure you’re happy with the list name and who’s in it. Previously, Lists were always 100% private and only viewable by the owner.
  • On your Info section, you may well see a whole bunch of “Community Pages” you didn’t know you were connected to. For more about what exactly these pages are, see this post.
  • At the top of your new profile, make sure you’re happy with all the work/location/education etc. information. Edit/delete any info you don’t want displayed, or customize your privacy settings to only show certain data to certain people.
  • Check your Employer – if you’re connected to a Community Page and it’s your company, go to that Community Page and claim it (click the link at the bottom left “Is this your business?”). You can choose to merge the Community Page into your existing fan page… or not.
  • Change your Employer to be your actual fan page (recommended!). This part can be tricky!
    • If the dropdown menu does not display your fan page to select from, the easiest way is to type in the full URL of your fan page.
    • Or, if that doesn’t work, here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this. See also this helpful thread and screenshot.
  • The five photos at the top of your new profile are the last five you were tagged in – whether you tagged yourself or a friend tagged you. Note: anyone viewing your profile sees these five photos. (Though I have heard some users say they see different photos than the ones the profile owner sees).
    • To change the photos, mouseover each one and click the “X.” Another will automatically appear in its place.
    • To control the exact five photos you want, untag then retag (or upload new ones) and tag from right to left (left is the most recent photo). For a fun profile “hack,” see this tutorial/app and these examples on Mashable.com.
  • The “Send Message” button at the top right of your friends’ profiles has been buggy. See Facebook’s Known Issues for support. Otherwise, you may just need to turn off your Chat feature for the Send Message button to show. It’s easier to just hover over a person’s name and use the Send Message link in their hovercard. For more on this, see this screenshot and comments. (Beats me why “Poke” has been given prime positioning top right of all profiles. I’ve never been into Poking on Facebook. LOL! If you want to say hi, just come say hi on my wall!!)

Facebook New Profile Design - Send Message to Friend

I hope this provides some support and clarity… the peace of mind part will come sooner or later! Remember, there’s nothing as certain as change and we all go through natural phases when phased with significant changes. Eventually, Facebook users get used to new features.

I’ll be blogging further about the new Facebook profile design, some hacks and Ninja tricks and some areas to be cautious of. This post serves as your introduction to the new profile for now! Do let me know any questions, comments, concerns you may have about the new profile:

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Mari Smith

Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is widely known as the Premier Facebook Marketing Expert and a top Social Media Thought Leader. Forbes describes Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” IBM named Mari as one of seven women that are shaping digital marketing. Mari is an in-demand keynote speaker, corporate social media strategist, dynamic live webcast host, and popular brand ambassador. She is coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, and author of The New Relationship Marketing.

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20 Comments

  1. Malibu321 on February 6, 2011 at 12:37 am

    how do you switch a personal account to a business or community page? I’ve looked on facebook and couldn’t find anything to help me with this. THX



  2. @virtualgina on February 3, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Thanks Mari – was able to make the change just by entering my fan page names.



  3. Debbie LaChusa on January 21, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    Thanks so much Mari. My business page is now finally showing up and linked as my Employer on my profile, and the blank community page no longer comes up. Yea!



  4. Kenneta Fabing on January 19, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    You’re my hero today, Mari! I appreciate the info – will reward with posting a recommendation to you page to my friends and fans!



  5. Ernie on January 19, 2011 at 2:39 am

    Thanks so much for the tip on how to change my employer to my FB page. I’m thinking that little switch will bring a lot more traffic to my page.



  6. Mari Smith on January 14, 2011 at 6:44 am

    Awesome – glad to help out!



  7. Mari Smith on January 14, 2011 at 6:43 am

    Thanks heaps for saying!! xxx



  8. Travis Campbell on January 14, 2011 at 2:37 am

    As always Mari, great detail and useful information! I wasn’t able to modify my employer to point to my fan page, any additional insights there?

    Thanks for helping us blaze the trail!



  9. Venessa on January 11, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    I’m afraid I’m one of those who are NOT liking the new profile. But like you said, can’t do anything about it, so just get on with it. Out with the old, in with the new.Thanks for the very useful post.
    I will head over to my profile and click that update button now.



    • Mari Smith on January 12, 2011 at 1:51 am

      Hey Vanessa – it takes a bit of getting used to, but hang in there!! 🙂



  10. Laura Christianson on January 11, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    I tried changing my employer to my fan page, but it just keeps creating different Community Pages for my business and asking me if I want to like it. I’m not seeing the “Is this your business?” link you refer to:
    “Go to that Community Page and claim it (click the link at the bottom left “Is this your business?”). You can choose to merge the Community Page into your existing fan page… or not.”



    • Mari Smith on January 12, 2011 at 1:59 am

      Hi Laura – I think there may be a bug on the Community Pages – that “Is this your business” link for sure used to be there just recently. 🙁 Hmmm.

      Be sure to not click Save on your profile until you have the right fan page show up; otherwise, yes, it will keep creating new Community Pages. Have you tried typing in the full URL of your fan page as your Employer?



      • Laura Christianson on January 12, 2011 at 3:03 am

        Yes, I tried the full URL, which FB wouldn’t accept, as well as a short URL FB suggested, and as many other URL structures I could think of!

        I’m going to try the tutorial you suggested. Another friend was having the same problem today, and she sent me a link to the same tutorial: http://www.wchingya.com/2010/10/official-facebook-page-employer-link.html

        Meanwhile, I suspect I now have several Community Pages…



      • Tia Sparkles Singh on January 14, 2011 at 1:25 am

        Mari, feel free to share this link with your peeps – I made this vid last month to show exactly how to do it 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAEIXILzg7o&feature=player_embedded



      • Mari Smith on January 14, 2011 at 7:37 am

        Hi Tia!! I checked out your video. I believe you may have found a random workaround that does not work for everyone. Most people that do what you suggest just end up with yet another Community Page. 🙁 I haven’t seen the real fan page actually drop in if it cannot be selected from the dropdown.

        Ching Ya wrote up a decent tutorial some time ago and updated it for the new profile regards the Employer field: http://www.wchingya.com/2010/10/official-facebook-page-employer-link.html

        However, what some folks tell me works is to type in the FULL URL of their fan page and that pulls it in from the drop down.

        What I did for my own profile and have helped some friends to do is just select any fan page, like Starbucks, for example. Then use the Web Developer toolbar and switch out codes as Ching Ya explains in her tutorial.



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