A few weeks ago, we profiled Pinterest’s new analytics tool – a big stride for brands wishing to measure KPIs on the image-driven platform. Since then, Pinterest has been busy rolling out a slew of new features, mostly from a design standpoint, many of which greatly improve the platform.

The first thing most people noticed was the subtle, but noticeable design changes, including wider images on explore screens and a re-work of the top bar with categories, search, and settings.

While we mentioned a number of the changes very briefly last week in 451 Labs, here is a much more in-depth look at not just what they are, but how your brand should be regarding them:

• Image Size – When clicking on an image, it will now pop-up at 735 pixels wide, up from the previous 600 pixels.
• Categories – Where you find categories is the biggest change, as they’ve been shifted to the left of the search box in a drop-down menu.
• Other Pins From Boards – When viewing a pin, you will now see other pins from that board appear on the right hand side of the pop-up screen.

• People Also Pinned Suggestions – Scroll down below a pin and you will now find a section of pins that “people who pinned this also pinned,” suggesting relevant pins.

• Settings – Instead of all settings located in one place, editing your name, username, and about section now falls under Profile Settings, while all other settings can be found by clicking on the brand name in the upper right corner and going into the Settings tab.
• How to Get to Website – Once a pin is enlarged, you can still click on the image to get to the source website, but Pinterest added a website button next to “like” and “pin it,” in an attempt to continue to increase already high click-through rates.

Some of the most important changes though, were not what was added, but what was taken away. Some of these eliminations certainly seemed for the best, but others cannot immediately be understood. A list of major features removed:

• Hashtags – This is probably the most surprising feature removed from Pinterest, as it was a popular way for users to organize their pins and easily push pins to Twitter. This coincides with the next removed feature…
  • Update: While this was initially widely reported, it appears they still work.
  • Tweet Pins – Pinterest has nixed the ability to send pins to twitter while you pin them. Once pinned though, they can be easily shared to Facebook and Twitter.
  • Embed Links – You must use Pinterest’s own embed link to link directly to a pin.
  • Links in pins – Pins can no longer have active links in the text body, replaced with the website button.
    • Update: Similarly to hashtags, links still appear to be working.

• 200 Character Profile Down to 160 Characters – Shortening the space for descriptions.
• Ability to Like Boards – Users can no longer like other boards, just pins.

With lots of changes happening on Pinterest, and with more likely to roll out in the future, it’s important for brands to stay on top of what can and cannot be done. So, get the new analytics up and running, play with the new features, and get pinning!