Facebook Rolled Out Several Ways to Say ‘Happy Father’s Day’

More than 830 million photos and videos were shared on Father’s Day last year.
Don’t forget about dad: Facebook announced a host of features for Father’s Day this Sunday.

The social network said in an email to Social Pro Daily that more than 185,000 new dads commemorated their first days of fatherhood on Facebook over the past year, adding that more than 830 million photos and videos were shared on Father’s Day last year (June 19, 2016).

For Father’s Day 2017, Facebook users can send personalized cards. The social network said users will see messages atop their News Feeds reminding them about the holiday, after which they can share cards featuring photos and other art, with mobile users having the ability to personalize those cards by adding photos.

Users who have father or child relationships listed on Facebook may see cards pre-populated with both profile pictures.
Facebook Camera will feature Father’s Day stickers and themed frames. Users can access the frames by swiping to the right of News Feed and opening the effects tray, and stickers can be added when photos are taken or uploaded.

Get your Father’s Day frame here: Facebook Picture Frame

facebook Celebrating 30 Years of the GIF

On June 15, we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of the GIF, which has made communicating on the internet more joyful, more visual and let’s face it, a whole lot funnier! To mark the big 3-0, we’re:

• Taking an inside look at GIF popularity on Messenger
• Announcing that GIFs in comments are now available to everyone on Facebook (yay!)
• Introducing some new and exclusive GIFs we’ve created featuring some of the internet’s biggest stars
• Asking you to help us answer the age-old debate of how to pronounce the word “GIF”

An Inside Look at GIFs in Messenger

With this milestone approaching, we took a look at how GIFs have transformed the way people communicate with each other since introducing GIFs in Messenger in 2015:

• People on Messenger sent nearly 13 billion GIFs in the last year, or nearly 25,000 GIFs every minute
• GIF sends on Messenger have tripled in the past year
• New Year’s Day 2017 was the most popular day ever for GIF sends on Messenger, with more than 400 million GIF sends

GIFs in Facebook Comments are Finally Here!

We know people love communicating with GIFs on Messenger, and we’re also making it easier to use GIFs on Facebook. Today we’re introducing the ability to add GIFs in comments for all people on Facebook globally.

Just tap the GIF button when you go to make a comment, type in what you’re looking to say, and add the GIF that really nails it!

The GIF Party

We’re also celebrating the 30th anniversary the best way we know how — a GIF party with some of your favorite stars.

GIPHY Studios created 20 GIFs featuring some of the internet’s most recognizable faces: DNCE, Logan Paul, Amanda Cerny, DREEZY, Patrick Starr, Violet Benson, Wuz Good, Brandi Marie, and Landon Moss.

Each GIF is a unique and shareable morsel of human expression. They will be available to use by searching #GIFparty when sharing a GIF on Facebook or Messenger or by visiting To get a GIF to celebrate through the following link >>  GIPHY.com/Facebook.

Logan Paul

Violet Benson

Amanda Cerny

Landon Moss

Ending an Age-old Debate: How Do You Pronounce GIF?

Finally, we’re looking to solve the debate over how the word GIF is pronounced once and for all. Over the next few days, if you live in the US you might see a poll on Facebook asking you to cast your vote. You can also vote by visiting Facebook’s official Page on your mobile phone. To find the Page, search for “Facebook” in the main Facebook app.

We’ll report back here on whether the “hard g” or “soft g” pronunciation reigns supreme.

facebook launches #HereForYou campaign for mental health awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the US, and this month Facebook is letting people know about our tools and resources we have developed for people who may be struggling. 

People may see videos or photos in News Feed for a broad awareness campaign about supportive groups, crisis support over Messenger and suicide prevention tools.

We’ve been committed to mental health support for many years, and this is one of the ways we’re working to build a safer and more supportive community on Facebook. As we continue to invest in new tools and resources, we hope Facebook can help provide support to more people over time. For example, Mama Dragons, a Utah community of mothers with LGBTQ children, uses Facebook Groups to share experiences and offer support.

Finding Supportive Groups

On Facebook, people can connect to groups that support them through difficult times. Throughout May, we’ll be helping more people find groups about mental health and well-being.

Crisis Support Over Messenger

People can talk in real time with trained crisis and mental health support volunteers over Messenger. Participating organizations include Crisis Text Line, the National Eating Disorder Association, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. We are also happy to announce that we will be adding The Trevor Project, an organization focused on crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth. The option will roll out over the next few months.

Suicide Prevention Tools and Resources

We’ve offered suicide prevention tools on Facebook for more than 10 years. We developed these in collaboration with mental health organizations such as Save.org, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Forefront and Crisis Text Line, and with people who have personal experience thinking about or attempting suicide. Last year we expanded the availability of these tools worldwide with the help of over 70 partners, and we’ve improved them based on new technology and feedback from the community.

This month Instagram is also helping to raise awareness about mental health and the communities of support that exist on the platform. To learn more about the tools and resources available on Instagram and the #HereForYou initiative, visit instagram-together.com.

Together, we hope these resources help more people who may be struggling and and we’re continuously improving them to build a safer and more supportive community on Facebook.

Facebook’s new tool lets anyone create custom profile frames

Facebook is launching a series of new features to help people customize their photos and videos in the social network’s continuing battle with Snapchat, an app that put the camera, photos and video at the front-and-center of social interactions. 

Today, Facebook is unveiling a new tool that will allow anyone, including Facebook Page owners, to create custom profile frames for users’ photos. It’s also introducing similar capabilities, along with other effects that can be used on both photos and videos, with its new “in-app camera” available in a single test market.

With the Camera Effects Platform, Facebook is opening Facebook profile frame creation to all.

Using a simple online tool that doesn’t require any technical skills — only graphic design skills — anyone can develop and then submit frames that can be used by others on Facebook. The frames can support teams, causes, businesses, events or anything else someone wants to promote.

To create a frame, you’ll first create your design in your favorite software program and export it as a PNG file with a transparent background for each element. This frame is then uploaded to Facebook, where you can preview it in different sizes, and you can add other details. The final step is to submit the frame for approval.

Facebook says that frames must adhere to its policies and terms in order to go live. This approval process means no one can launch frame content that’s offensive or illegal. Plus, the company reserves the right to take down any frames retroactively if they’re later discovered to be in violation.

Unfortunately, Facebook isn’t making this Camera Effects Platform available in the U.S. at launch. Instead, the tool will initially be open to those in Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, the U.K. and Ireland. The company explains to TechCrunch that these markets were chosen because they’re where the profile frames have been used the most to date.

Most of the current frames are focused on sports, but despite the addition of popular U.S. sports, like NFL, NHL, college sports and more, the U.S. hasn’t been as big on frames as other markets, it seems. Being able to personalize them, or adopt those that go beyond sports and major events, could eventually change that.

 

 

Ireland was selected to be in the launch group because it’s also the test market for Facebook’s new in-app camera.

Launched this fall, the in-app camera is essentially a Snapchat clone that includes animated selfie masks, overlaid graphics, Prisma-style art filters, geofilters and even some “reactive” filters that respond to body movements.

Ireland is the only market with access to this camera, though the feature was briefly testing in Canada and Brazil during the Olympics.

With the new Camera Effects Platform now available, Ireland will gain access to some additional functionality, including the ability to track frame usage.

Users there will also be able to create frames that can appear in the in-app camera, in addition to seeing them appear in News Feed, as in the other markets.

Ireland will be able to create “location frames,” too, which are those that visually represent a given locale, like a neighborhood, city or landmark. These can be used on photos and videos, and shared within the in-app camera.

The idea here is that these geofiltered frames would only pop up in the camera when you were at the location. For example, if you were taking a picture at a private location or business, like a restaurant, you would see the option to add the frame the restaurant’s owner had created. Other location frames will only be seen in the camera by the creator’s friends when they’re near the location.

Snapchat already offers the ability to create your own geofilters, of course. It was only a matter of time before Facebook made a similar move. In addition, as TechCrunch writer Josh Constine noted earlier, Facebook would eventually need to create its own camera effects platform because it couldn’t possibly build every filter or lens people want.

Facebook says it will make other improvements to this in-app camera, beyond this latest functionality, before it rolls out the feature worldwide.

The company says that the U.S. and other countries will be able to use the Camera Effects Platform in the future, but couldn’t promise when the global launch would occur.

Facebook Starts Letting You Add A 7-Second Looping Video As A Profile Pic

People visit Facebook profiles more than four billion times per day, and we’re continually looking for ways to make profiles the best place for people to curate their online identities and connect with others.

To keep its decade-old social network lively, Facebook is introducing five big changes to user profiles, which are viewed 4 billion times per day:

1. The option to pin Featured Photos to the top of the profile
2. Temporary profile pics
3. Easier visibility controls for About info, including a new 100 character Bio field
4. A mobile-centric design with centered profile photos plus big sections for photos and friends
5. The ability to use a 7-second looping video as your profile pic.

The features begin rolling out and testing today for some users.

Together, these changes should make Facebook more visually stimulating and addicting. As other networks like Twitter introduce auto-play video like Facebook did, and Snapchat adds animated selfie lenses and its own profile GIFs, Facebook has to stay a step ahead in the graphic arms race.

Meanwhile, Facebook wants to cement its profile as the center of your web presence. Snapchat hardly has a profile, and Twitter’s is basically just your most recent tweets. If Facebook can do more to let you customize how you represent yourself, you might be more willing to link back and send traffic to your profile.

Facebook’s product manager on the new profile, Aigerim Shorman, tells me it’s designed to highlight “what’s going on in their life, what’s important to them now in more expressive ways.” The most recent post you shared probably isn’t as useful for grasping your identity as biographical info or photos of you, so Facebook’s pushing that stuff above the timeline.

And finally, putting biographical info more front and center could get people to keep this information more up to date, which is critical to powering Facebook’s advertising engine. A similar overhaul of the web profile in 2010 scored Facebook immense amounts of data on where people live, where they went to school, and where they work, which has fueled its ad targeting ever since.

Let’s break down each of the new features:

Profile Videos

Soon you’ll be able to click on your profile pic to upload a new profile video. You tap the record button and can shoot for up to 7 seconds with sound. The looping video will auto-play without sound (unless clicked) on your profile and the feed story about you uploading it. A still cover image you select will appear everywhere else, such as the small thumbnail that appears next to your News Feed stories.

“Earlier this half [year] we were having a brainstorm, and sometimes you find a gem,” Shorman tells me. “One of my designers called me over [to look at an engineer’s] Facebook At Work account. But his profile pic was moving. I thought ‘this is going to be a great expression opportunity.’ It brought the profile to life. You got to know the person better. So we got inspired to create an option to create a profile video.” She insists the Snapchat Profile GIFs that launched in July weren’t even discussed in the feature’s creation.

In the examples, you’ll see Facebook employees dropping hats onto their heads, blowing their faces with air, or cracking a slow but subtle smile. The profile videos feel a bit like the Harry Potter newspapers, where photos suddenly come alive. They’re sure to unlock a ton of creativity from the user base.

Featured Photos

The next biggest feature is a new option to select up to five Featured Photos that will appear pinned to a section at the top of your profile. This is designed to let you give people considering your friend request or who just met you a better clue to your identity. They could show your favorite after-work activities, your pets, or just some extra selfies. Think of them as the extra photos in your Tinder profile. They’re not your main profile pic, but they’ll be used to judge you.

Temporary Profile Pics

The temporary profile pic feature I spotted Facebook testing a few weeks ago is now getting an official rollout. It lets you select a profile pic, but have yours revert to your old pic after a set number of hours, days, or weeks. It’s useful for promoting a cause, like the 26 million people who set their profile pic rainbow in support of the right to gay marriage. In some cases, Facebook even provides little tools for filtering your profile pic.

Visibility Controls And Bio

Facebook is now adding in-line privacy controls to the big About information fields that appear at the top of your profile. Those set to public will now appear immediately on the profile below your profile pic, rather than buried in the About section. You’ll also be able to describe yourself in words with a new 100-character Bio field, which could also help people figure out if they want to be your friend, as long as you keep that section public.

Mobile Design

Rather than just port the more left-aligned web profile to mobile, Facebook has built a mobile-first design. It makes the profile pic/video bigger and puts it in the center of the screen. Below, rather than small panels that open to reveal details on friends and photos, Facebook is giving both their own big sections pinned below the profile pic and above the timeline.

At first glance, the changes might seem merely aesthetically pleasing. And truthfully, that was the only task of the team that designed them. But the repercussions for Facebook’s business could be significant, just like a similar overhaul of web profiles in 2010 was.

The more that people want to visit profiles, the more they’ll want to update their own. With biographical information now easier to see at the top of the profile, users are incentivized to keep the info like their job title current. That in turn lets Facebook accurately target these users with ads meant for “software engineers” or people who “live in San Francisco.”

It’s another smart way Facebook has managed to align its business with its user experience. People go to your profile to get to know you. News articles or weekend tales aren’t as illustrative as a profile video, featured photos, or Bio text. Pushing them to the top gives your friends, and advertisers, a better understanding of who you are.

How To Change Your Facebook Profile Photo To Show Solidarity With Manchester

People take to Facebook to mark themselves safe after a tragedy, but also to show solidarity with those who are affected.

This was true after the Paris attacks in 2015, when Facebook launched a special French flag filter that users could place over their existing profile photos. And it’s true now, after last night’s horrific terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.

People have already started adding a Manchester-themed frame to their Facebook profile photo. There are variations of the frame, but many depict a heart in the bottom right-hand corner with the Union Flag inside and “Manchester” written on top.

To add a frame to your photo as a small gesture of unity, head here. In the search bar, type in “Manchester” and scroll down to see the multiple heart options. Pick one, and position it wherever you would like on your photo. You can also search for “United Kingdom” to place the Union Flag on top of your photo.

You can also donate to the crowdfunding campaign set up by the Manchester Evening News. The page includes ways to share the campaign on Facebook and also a place to leave messages of support.

People take to Facebook to mark themselves safe after a tragedy, but also to show solidarity with those who are affected. This was true after the Paris attacks in 2015, when Facebook launched a special French flag filter that users could place over their existing profile photos. And it’s true now, after last night’s horrific terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.

People have already started adding a Manchester-themed frame to their Facebook profile photo. There are variations of the frame, but many depict a heart in the bottom right-hand corner with the Union Flag inside and “Manchester” written on top.

To add a frame to your photo as a small gesture of unity, head here.