Facebook is bringing YOU to the forefront. The new profile layout is already being criticized, of course, but like every Facebook change we will all adjust and then wonder why we ever liked it the other way.
The most noticeable shift is that your tagged pictures are right at the top of your profile. This makes it easy for your friends to see the newest pictures of you.
Directly above that is your info, which was previously on the info tab. Now where you work, your school, where you live, where you are from, your birthday and your relationship listing is right at the very top of your profile like an elevator pitch summary of who you are.
Don't worry, your privacy settings have not been affected. Whatever they were before, they are now.
The nav bar on the left is easier and more straightforward. It is simply Wall, Info, Photos, Notes and Friends. This nav bar is replacing the tabs.
Oh yeah...no tabs! I personally think eliminating them is a good idea. Many people do not like them, and more often than not they get ignored. Unless a photo or a piece of information is on your wall, people won't click the tab and therefore don't see it.
The Wall
The wall hasn't changed much. The status update interface is a little different. It is not as obvious as it was before, but it is actually a cleaner interface.
Info
The info tab is much more graphically oriented. Every piece of information has a picture or a placeholder photo.
Your contact information is still on the very bottom. Unfortunately, if you are trying to drive traffic to your website from your info area, that has not been made any easier. FB did not give prominent placement to web addresses.
Photos
I like the change in this interface. It is cleaner and seems to load faster. Your albums are prominently featured on top and then photos of you are like an endless sea flowing beneath the albums.
One thing I don't like is that it is not immediately clear about how to add new photos. But once I oriented myself to the new layout I saw the "upload photos" button in the upper right corner.
Friends
Friends never had an info tab. I have spoken with many people who did not know how to find their friends, unless it was from the news feed. The addition of a friends category on the nav bar is a big improvement.
Another change is that your friends no longer come up in a pop-up window, now they are listed on the page with a prominent search box at the top. This makes finding friends much easier and seemingly more accessible.
No more boxes!
All those little boxes that ran down the left side bar of your profile are gone! FB has been threatening to remove them for a long time and has been phasing them out for quite a while. But in this new profile they are gone. The side bar is now reserved for your nav bar and a listing of your friends and family.
I actually prefer this to the boxes. They always seemed clumsy to me. Now your nav bar is easy to find; if you have a relationship listed, your status and their profile link and thumbnail are prominent, and then your friends and family stream down in a big column. It is as though the sidebar has changed its focus to your relationships.
Here is the promo video from Facebook.
If you don't have the new Facebook profile yet, you can get it by going to www.facebook.com/about/profile/
What do you think about the new profile layout?