Social media giant announces animated profile pictures

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October 2, 2015 3:22 PM

Profiles, as a whole, will also receive a redesign on mobile with profile pictures changing position and being front and center.

Facebook is about to look very different from how you know it.

The social media giant announced on Wednesday that you will soon be able to set a short, looping video clip as your standard profile picture.

According to a report by the Huffington Post, only a “small number” of iPhone users in the UK and California will have access to the feature at first, with more people getting access “soon.”

Profiles, as a whole, will also receive a redesign on mobile with profile pictures changing position and being front and center.

In addition, you’ll also be able to set a temporary profile picture. There’s a timer that can be set that’ll revert the temporary image back to your normal profile picture when you decide you want it to.

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For example, if you set a rainbow as your profile image to celebrate gay pride, you can have it switch back after a few days without any additional input from you.

You will also have more control over what information appears on the top of your profile and fill in a new line that describes who you are – similar to a Twitter bio.

This announcement puts an emphasis on Facebook’s mobile versions, which are currently used by 1.31 billion people every month – a number that has ballooned by 23 percent since last year.

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