Facebook is really going all in on mobile. This week they have announced some really interesting changes to the personal profile. You maybe asking why I am covering it here? Facebook has a good track record in what they release to the personal profiles end up on brand pages. So what are they doing?
Facebook is giving you more control over your profile picture. They are doing this two ways. The first is letting you make your picture a short video. Second they are allowing you to post a picture for a limited time. Let’s talk about the video. The way it will work is you will record a short video that will be in place of the static picture. The video will be looping, so it’s very similar to an animated gif. They are letting you do this to bring your profile to life. From the video below, you will have to do it from the Facebook app. You will be able to change it out as you wish.
The second way you can control you profile is you can set a picture to replace your profile picture for a limited amount of time. After it expires the picture will revert back to the original picture. This can be done for an hour, day, week and such. This is one of the best things they have done in a while. I can see how this will be perfect for a brand page. There are times you want to post a temporary image but revert back to the first image. Now you don’t have to do anything for this to happen.
They are doing a few more things to improve profiles. They are letting you showcase photos you have shared. We all have that amazing picture or pictures, we have taken. Now we can profile those or other important events up front and center for your friends to see. There will be some changes to the way information is showcased on your profile as well.
Lastly, is a short bio field. Its a short one sentence description of yourself for others to read. You can get as creative as you want on this. It could be about you, a favorite quote or more. The picture shows you can use emoticons too. I’m not sold on this feature but it’s fun.
The features are being tested out by a small group in the UK and California. It will start rolling out to a larger audience soon. Facebook has their own timeline that you never know when it will be released. Although, I think they have released new features faster now then when they released Timeline back in 2011.
How Does this Affect your Business: I think the new video profile will give new life to the page profile picture. It will be great to have another way to express your brand. Tie that in with the limited time profile picture it makes it even more awesome. If you have an event you can change the picture and have it revert back right after the event. The pictures would be a welcome addition as well. I would love to see them incorporate these features but a big more in depth for pages.
I love to see Facebook trying new things like this. I can’t wait to try them out. But for the mean time we’ll have to wait for a larger rollout!
