Facebook introduces mobile video profiles

According to Facebook, we all visit Facebook profile pages a whopping 4 billion times a day, which is frankly an obscene amount of sneaky internet stalking. A whole heap of those no doubt come via mobile devices, too. Today, the social network is rolling out updates that makes viewing Facebook profiles a whole lot more fun from a smartphone or tablet in the form of profile videos.

Following the update, you can film a short looping video not too dissimilar to an Instagram video (a Facebook owned company) that can appear in place of your boring static profile photo of old. This will instantly inject a few seconds of your personality for visitors. Facebook describes this as an ‘obvious evolution of profiles’. This follows the introduction of autoplaying videos in timelines when viewed on mobile devices (you can find out how to disable autoplaying videos here).

The other new introduction for mobile profiles is setting timed profile pictures. So if you still want to stick with a static photo you can, but you can set a new one to appear for a set period of time before reverting back to your old one. This, Facebook says, will be great for short periods such as showing your support for a sports team or major event. This can be set for as short as an hour or a custom time period. The decision to introduce the feature came after 26 million Facebook users used the company’s automatically generated profile images in celebration of same-sex marriage.

You also now have far more control over how your mobile profile page appears. The top of your profile is now customisable, so you can decide what photos appear and new bio fields. Other little design flourishes will be rolled out, including larger, centred profile photos and a generally more engaging layout. It will also be easier to see mutual friends. The new features are being initially tested with users in the UK and California, so let us know if you’re one of the lucky few in the comments below.