Facebook profiles revamped

Facebook has unveiled a user profile revamp, which should reach all members by early next year.

The social network said it wanted to make it easier for users to share their information and learn more about contacts.

First off, a quick overview of basic information has been added, including a member's place of origin, which school they went to and their occupation.

Facebook has also added a row of recently tagged photos of the user, who will soon be able to highlight friends they consider important and then create new groups.

For greater collaboration with friends and colleagues, users will be able to list their activities.

"You can list the projects you worked on at your job, classes you took in school, your favorite musicians and sports teams, and more," explained Facebook's Josh Wiseman, on a blog.

"All your interests and experiences are now represented with images, making your entire profile a more compelling visual experience."

There is also a new "infinite scroll" feature, which has been designed to make it simpler to look through photos.

Users can choose to wait for the updates or sign up now.

As with almost any new Facebook addition, privacy concerns have been raised, although in this case the focus has been placed on user activity rather than the social network's controls.

"Adding features to facilitate sharing updates, interests and photos may be appealing to some Facebook users. However, people need to be wary about how much personal information they're willing to give away online," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

"Many Facebook users are online friends' with complete strangers and so we'd advise Facebook users to consider their privacy settings, make sure they're only sharing information with people that they know and trust and to think carefully about how much personal information they want to make public."