Facebook profile pages gets personal & new looks

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 favourite 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 Minutes feature on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that aired last 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 said. “The ads are also more prominent and almost have parity with profile info.” Facebook is expected to collect $1.3 billion in worldwide advertising revenue this year, up from $665 million in 2009, researcher eMarketer says. Facebook’s new profile page should curry favour with its developers, too.