Make Your Mobile Facebook Profile Fancy with Video & More

Have you visited your Facebook page on your iPhone lately?

If so, you may have noticed a new little video icon hovering over your profile photo. What? Does that mean that instead of a static profile you can now create an animated one?

Yes. Yes, it does.

And the new features don’t stop there.

Facebook’s latest updates elevate your profile

Facebook made a few noteworthy tweaks in their most recent update. Here are the highlights:

New profile videos. When you go to change your profile photo to a video, Facebook gives you the option of either choosing an existing one or shooting a new one on the spot. Be forewarned, though: video profiles are currently limited to only 7 seconds and Facebook does not yet have trimming functionality — so videos had better be 7 seconds or less or you won’t be able to upload them.

During the profile selection process, Facebook will ask you to choose a still frame from the video that will be shown in Newsfeeds, so that your looping animation doesn’t become an annoying distraction. This still frame will also display as your profile on desktop platforms, which are excluded from the video functionality for now — but more on that later.

Temporary profile pictures. When uploading a profile picture you have the option to set an end date, after which your profile rolls back to your previous picture. This makes it easy to support causes, celebrate events, and mark occasions without having to worry about manually switching back out your profile picture later.

Customizable bio and featured photos. Regardless of your privacy settings, you can now polish up your public-facing persona by writing a brief one-liner bio and adding up to five images which will be visible to anyone who visits your page.

User-focused design adjustments. Your profile photo or video now appears bigger and centered in the screen. Plus, Photos and Friends sections now appear at the top of every profile page, making it easier to get to know others.

But there are limitations

For now, you can only see these new changes on:

• mobile profiles — not desktop.
• iOS (that is, Apple) apps — not Android or Windows.
• personal Pages — not business Pages.

Additionally, Facebook has been implementing these changes slowly over the past few weeks. So if you’re looking at your profile on your iPhone Facebook app and you’re not seeing what I’m talking about, give it a little more time.

Eyes on the future

It may seem disappointing at first that these updates aren’t yet available to everyone, but take heart. Facebook is simply being smart about their resources. By starting smaller, they can scale up as needed. They can also test what works well and what doesn’t before going universal.

It’s interesting, too, that they’d take the first step on mobile instead of desktop. It wasn’t so long ago that it would be the other way around! This simply underscores the fact that Facebook believes mobile and video are the future — and they want to be ready for the future now.

What’s in store for business Pages?

As I mentioned above, none of these changes are available for business Pages — yet. I have a feeling, however, that it won’t be long before they make similar improvements. So if you’re a business Page owner, watch carefully and start plotting now. Video profiles would make a great marketing tool!

Have you tried video in your personal Page profile yet? What did you think?