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Pinterest's Re-Design of Profile Pages Ignites User Complaints

WebiMax Contributor, March 21, 2012

Oh boy. The latest news on the street is that the re-designed profile page that Pinterest happily rolled out last Friday – and that I blogged about on Thursday and Friday of last week – is facing a severe backlash full of harsh criticism and complaints from members of the Pinterest community.

Sound familiar? The situation is almost akin to the many times that Facebook rolled out a series of major changes to its social networking site, and upset millions of users around the world. The frustrations these users faced were initial confusion about how to navigate pages, and annoyance at re-arranging information, images, friend lists and more on their profiles.

An article on TechCrunch, however, points out that there is a key difference between the re-designs Facebook carries out on its profile pages and news feeds and the one that Pinterest has recently carried out on its users' profile pages. Generally, Facebook users are upset over having to adjust to new formats, but they eventually get used to it and move on with their social media lives. The changes usually allow them to engage in much of the same activity as before, so adjustment comes relatively quickly.

Pinterest's re-design, however, messes with the aesthetic qualities of the site which drew so many people to it in the first place, and kept them so tightly hooked. First of all, it changes the way boards are displayed on users' profile pages. Before, boards were shown as mini-boards of themselves that featured even smaller versions of the images that were pinned on them. Now, only the most recent image pinned on a board is displayed as its representation on the user's profile. Worse, that image is cropped to fit. The vast numbers of Pinterest users who spent hours re-arranging their boards to look just right are simply livid at this change.

The second feature that has upset many is the re-positioning of the name and biography from the side of the profile page to the top. Many users complain that this move takes up valuable space on their pages that was once devoted to fitting in more boards for viewing in one glance.

After these features the next thing that users are now complaining about is the lack of response from Pinterest. It now needs to be seen what this new startup will do and say to remedy the situation. And so we all impatiently wait, both avid users and SEO marketers, for the latest word from Pinterest on its re-design fiasco.

Need an Expert Contributor?

Ken Wisnefski is a seasoned web entrepreneur and a frequent contributor to news outlets and business publications. Ken’s vast knowledge of how to make online businesses succeed has made him a sought after consultant from businesses wishing to improve their online initiatives. Contact pr@webimax.com to collaborate!

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