Profile videos: coming soon to a news feed near you

A quick newsflash for the new year: we’ve started to see the first signs of Facebook’s new video clip option for profile pictures arriving in Sweden. The update, which was announced in September last year, has been slowly rolling out since then.

If you have Facebook for iOS, try updating your app and then changing your profile picture – you’ll soon see whether it’s an option for you. (It looks like Android users will have to wait a bit longer.)

Video clip profile pictures are limited to 7 seconds, challenging users to be creative about how they grab their friends’ attention. But if you’re accustomed to the short-form time limits of Vine and Snapchat, you’ll soon be coming up with plenty of ideas.

The same challenges will also apply to brands when the feature rolls out to pages. Our top tip? Keep it light. Use your 7-second slot to surprise people or make them smile. If you want to play it safe, why not think about how you could present your logo in a video format, or even a creative way to integrate your moving profile picture with the still cover photo?

We’ll be looking forward to seeing all the innovative ways people find to make the most of this fun feature. Let us know if you spot any great examples, and remember to check back on the Salgado blog for all the latest news and updates from the social media world.