Out of no where, Facebook hit its community with a redesign of user profile pages. The main changes put more emphasis on photos and display a summary of a user’s relationship details and profile summary in a more prominent manner:

Facebook sent the notification of the profile redesign via its company Twitter account on Sunday afternoon. You can read the original blog post if you would like more information on the changes straight from the horses mouth.

Facebook stated that no user privacy settings have been altered in any way; however security experts like Sophos warn users the design encourages directly and indirectly to share more information about themselves. Facebook suggests users to add more information at the end of a guided tour of the new changes. The sharing more personal information could be exploited by cyber crooks, identity thieves and hackers. Sophos also advises, “Information about your life and lifestyle is much more use to identity thieves, cyber scammers and fraudsters than it is to the average person you might think of as a friend on Facebook.”

Many industry experts have weighed in on how Facebook benefits from the redesign. After all, user experience is important, but company revenue and profitability are obvious goals they relentlessly pursue. PCWorld acknowledged that advertising space is almost twice as wide, and this makes the ads more prominent. The new format also encourages users to frequent profile pages more often. Their advertisers will certainly appreciate this – what good is an ad if no one views it?

Facebook has seemed to learn from its past mistakes. While many users complain about having to adjust to a new design, there appears to be nothing inherently evil from a privacy or safety standpoint on Facebook’s part.

Currently, the redesign is opt in, but many wonder how long this option will last. It is also important to note that once you upgrade to the new changes, you can’t return to the old format.

If you have upgraded, let us know what you think in the comments section below