You sound like someone who has been on Facebook for quite a while with your "just happens" comment. You're spot on that the general approach of Facebook to rolling out changes is to follow the Nike slogan of "just do it", though sometimes they do offer you the opportunity to opt in or not. And, surprise, with the latest Facebook update -- as Mark Zuckerberg talked about on his recent 60 Minutes appearance! -- it does give you the chance to opt in or not.

The key, of course, is to know how to get to that opt-in question...

I had been waiting around too, and even had a conversation with someone this morning about how you get the upgraded Facebook profile. We were both mystified, having learned that Facebook has a logic all its own.

Then I stumbled into the secret: Check out someone whose profile has upgraded and you'll be invited to upgrade your own Facebook profile too:

You can get there by checking out my profile, as you'll see, I just upgraded. Go to: facebook.com/d1taylor to find me (or just click on Dave Taylor on Facebook).

When you get the prompt, click on "Get the New Profile" and you'll be taken to a slightly modified version of your profile that more emphasizes photos, etc:

As usual, you'll want to tweak things since you've probably never realized that the information in your Profile would become so visible. And for me, well, there's that dog picture to worry about...

Looking more closely at the new profile display on the top, you'll see that they have convenient links to those elements you haven't filled in, which are most of them for me:

I'll click on "Add your current work information" and conveniently be taken to the portion of the Facebook profile information that details not just work history but educational history too:

I'll add "Intuitive Systems, LLC" as my current employer as it's the parent company of AskDaveTaylor.com, etc., and add information on my academic background: BA Computer Science from UCSD, MS Education from Purdue University and MBA from Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore. Facebook then makes its own decision about what to display, as you can see...

Now let's tweak those displayed photos, as I really don't want the ones its selected as my key photos in the profile. To demonstrate, look closely at the 'x' that shows up on the top right of the middle photo once I put the cursor in that area:

Click on the "x" to remove the photo and Facebook asks if that's what I really want to do. It is, no kiddin'!

A click on "Hide Photo" and I'll zip through some of its choices until I find a set I like. See the results by checking out my Facebook profile.

My friends see the updates to my profile information too, as is typical on Facebook:

Should I click "like" because I like my profile updates? :-) A Facebook dilemma!

Oh, and here's what you should see for that area of my new Facebook profile:

So I guess you don't have to check out my profile -- or even Like Ask Dave Taylor on Facebook (hint, hint) -- to find out what photos I settled on!

Now go, update your profile and good luck to you!