Thursday morning LinkedIn will roll out a new site-wide design featuring a tab-less header and a persistent left column with personal, account-related options.

LinkedIn is also adding status updates with which users can broadcast their current activities (professional or otherwise) to their connections and/or networks.

Just as when the company added portraits, these updates feel like an attempt to mimic Facebook. The new design bestows upon LinkedIn a similar layout to Facebook’s, with the page divided into a header, a thin left column, and a wide right one. Facebook has also had featured status updates for quite some time.

There are differences, of course, between the two. LinkedIn has decided to place a box at the bottom of the left column that continually reminds you how many connections you have, how many people have recently joined your network, what your status is, and more. The homepage will also have modules that you’ll be able to drag around to reorder.