Many of us like to use our Facebook profile or cover pictures to support a worthy cause once in a while. The most recent one you might have seen was for gay marriage, which prompted a wave of rainbow-colored profile pictures in support of new legislation. It turns out Mark Zuckerberg and his team are actually pretty fond of this idea, and want to make it easier to manage.
As TechCrunch reports, the giant social network is testing out a feature that allows users to change their profile picture on a temporary basis — after a set amount of time, it reverts back to normal. It’s not a massive change in the way the site works but it does mean you won’t still be supporting a presidential nominee long after he or she has withdrawn from the race.
Apparently only a limited number of people have access to the feature right now, but it’s slated for a broader roll-out in the near future. It lets you choose a set number of hours, days, or weeks before your old selfie returns at the top of your Timeline page, and should make the process of throwing your digital weight behind a cause that little bit easier.
“We often see people use their profile pictures to support a cause, root for a team, and commemorate milestones like birthdays and anniversaries,” Facebook told TechCrunch in an email. “Today, we’re testing a new feature that allows you to set a temporary profile picture for a specified period of time. Temporary profile pictures make it easier to to express who you are and how you’re feeling at a given moment, without having to worry about changing your profile picture back later.”
When the picture switches back, the change isn’t shown on the News Feed, so it should also cut down the Facebook update clutter that normally appears whenever a particular movement, sports game or Internet meme winds down.
[Image courtesy of Bloomua/Shutterstock.com]
