Facebook is spicing up profile photos in a big way.
Facebook users will now be able to record a short looping video, a bit like a Vine or a GIF, to use as their profile photo on mobile, the company said on Wednesday.
Facebook (FB) isn’t the first to use short videos or GIFs for users’ profile photos. Snapchat introduced the medium for its users’ “Snapcodes,” QR codes that can be scanned to add someone as a friend on the app and act as their user profile picture, in July. And Phhhoto, a one-year-old photo-sharing mobile app entirely based around the GIF format, uses them for users’ profile shots. Facebook users, however, will only be able to upload these new profile pictures in video format, not in true GIF format, a spokesperson clarified to Coins2Day via email.
Facebook is also adding the ability for users to set a temporary profile photo that will expire and revert to their usual one at a specific time.
“It can be a visual status update to let your friends know what’s going on in your life today, or it can be your statement of solidarity for a cause you feel strongly about,” product managers Aigerim Shorman and Tony Hsieh wrote in a blog post.
Wednesday’s profile updates also include a special “Bio” section at the top that can be customized with fun or important personal details, the ability to edit the information that appears at the top of the profile (hometown, work, featured photos), and a new profile layout that emphasizes the profile picture, which has previously been spotted by some users.
Facebook is first making these features available to some iPhone users in California and the U.K., but plans to roll them out more widely soon, it says.
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(The story has been updated with clarification about the video format users can upload as their profile video.)
