Disclaimer: This post has absolutely nothing to do with SEO or even online marketing. You've been warned. Please keep reading to see the awesomeness that is your new profile. *happy dance* :)

Before I jump into the new profiles and what's so great about them. Let's take a look back, a look at the profiles of yesteryear. Back in the day when the profile functionality was created, Twitter didn't even exist yet (I know... WHAT?! There was a life before Twitter?). The profiles were quite simple really, you could only post one link and design wise there was a ton of whitespace.

Old Profile Layout

It is definitely time for an upgrade! So, let's take a look at some of the changes to the profiles.

Lookin' Good

With this redesign you have the ability to show us a lot more information about yourself! You have all the same functionaity you had before, but with a ton of additions. For example, you no longer have to add your Twitter name to the "additional contact info" section, there's actually a place to add you Twitter name! So let's take a look at a few screenshots with some of the changes.

New Profile Layout

More Links + Social Profiles

Not only do we show your community stats but you can see here we have direct links to your social profiles and the ability to add more links! (although only one will have the nofollow removed after 200 points).

Community Stats + Social & Other Links

More Profile Information

Now you get more bang for your buck and can display more information about yourself. Remember that you can earn up to 20 MozPoints for having a fully complete profile.

Profile Information

Comments and Blog Posts

Yea! This is information you had before, but now it's in a much cleaner, prettier format. Plus you get more options to see the post someone commented on and who wrote it. This will make it much easier to navigate around. Below is a screenshot of Casey Henry's latest comments.

Comments & Blog Posts

Earn MozPoints

Yes, that's right. You can earn MozPoints just for filling out your profile. As you update your profile you'll notice that you points just for filling in simple things like your name, title and bio. Take a look at the screenshot below to see how MozPoints will be added.

MozPoint Changes

Along with the changes to the profile and the upcoming changes to PRO Q&A it made sense to take a look at how MozPoints are calculated, why users would want to gain more and the ways to do that. Take a look at the new MozPoints page for all the details.

Ways to gain points

• YOUmoz - You'll now get 20 points when you get a YOUmoz post published (it used to be 10). Plus if the post makes it to the main blog, you'll get an ADDITIONAL 30 points. Which would give you a total of 50 points just for the post, plus still continue to earn points for every thumbs up and comment received on the post.
• Filling out your profile - More on that above. :)
• Comments - You continue to earn 1 MozPoint for each comment you write and 1 Mozpoint for every thumb up on your comment.
• New PRO Q&A - Right now this is in beta and only 100 users have access, but in the coming months all PRO members will be able to use this forum to ask and answer SEO questions. Free members, you can gain access by reaching over 500 MozPoints. Participating in PRO Q&A is a great way to gain points.

Benefits of having MozPoints

Other than just looking cool, and being at the top of the list, there really are benefits to earning MozPoints. A few of the highlights:

• Earn 200+ MozPoints in one month and you'll be considered for one free month of PRO.
• After 200 Mozpoints your first custom URL in your profile becomes followed. Currently you only need 100 points to get this nofollow, which means there are some members who used to have a followed link and no longer do. I'd encourge you to check out the ways to earn MozPoints above.
• Earn 1,000-1,999 points and you get an SEOmoz T-shirt
• Earn 2,000-4,999 points and you get a MozBot Guru Trophy (more info on this soon)
• Over 5,000 points?? Well we'll find something super-duper awesome for you! 

Go Update Your Profiles

Now, stop reading this, and go update your profiles! I want to see new smiling faces and filled out profiles by the end of the day. Go on now, I don't want to have to tell you twice. ;) (Sorry, the mom in me kicks in every now and then). Oh! There is one cookie issue happening when you go to your new profile for the first time. You may get logged out without knowing. So if you try to update your profile and get an error. Try refreshing, logging back in and trying again. You should only have to do this on the first around.

Happy profile updating!