Pinterest Steals the Spotlight by Rolling Out Re-Designed Profile Pages

Do you think that the release of the new iPad is the only exciting event to take place this morning? Think again! As I reported in my blog post from yesterday, Pinterest had announced earlier in the week that it would be rolling out a re-designed profile page for users of its popular social media site. Well, today was the big day for Pinterest, just as much as it was for Apple, and the time has come for us to peel our eyes off of that bright, brand-new retina display and onto the new format of the Pinterest user profile page.

Contrary to my conjecture yesterday that Pinterest would be moving away from the look of Facebook Timeline, the site actually moved towards it. This is rather curious, considering the comments made by Pinterest CEO and Co-Founder Ben Silbermann this past Tuesday during a talk at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. As mentioned in an article by Mashable on the Pinterest re-design, Silbermann said that the Pinterest team "wanted to make it more beautiful … to make your profile different in kind than the profile you have on Facebook.”

A quick glance at the re-designed Pinterest profile page, however, would lead one to believe the opposite. It looks like Pinterest took a liking to the Facebook Timeline and determined that it was an ideal formatting option with great appeal to many users, both old and new. The Mashable article features some screenshots to show the contrast between the of the previous and current Pinterest profile pages.

So what are some of those important design changes? One is that the box featuring the user's name and mini biography has been moved to the top of the page. Up until now it had always appeared on the left side of the user's profile page. Because this box as moved, the user's boards now appear below the name-and-biography box, instead of next to it. Yet another change is that the activity monitor, which used to appear below the name-and-biography box on the left, has been turned into a fourth tab that users can click on to access.

Overall, the re-design looks great and provides a streamlined user experience. It is only a tad reminiscent – at first glance – of Facebook's Timeline. However, further exploration of the features will convince regular users that the profile page is still distinctly different, and uniquely Pinterest.

Businesses should check out the new Pinterest profile page, and start re-organizing their profiles for best SEO value, as soon as they can.