Facebook may be busy preparing for a video-centric future, but it also wants you to resort to using traditional text to express yourself.
To that extent, the company is launching a new customization feature that lets you change the background color that appears behind your status. The feature, which was first spotted by TechCrunch and later made official by Facebook, gives you several colors to choose from.
Instead of the default white background users are accustomed to, you’ll have the option of red, purple, yellow, orange, and variations of blue, among others. Some even come with a color gradient that looks decidedly cooler than the other flat options.
Facebook is rolling out colored status backgrounds over the next few weeks exclusively to Andorid users. They will be viewable on iOS, Android, and the web.
Earlier this year, internal rumblings at the social network revealed that the sharing of personal Facebook posts had declined 21 percent year-over-year since mid-2015. In their place, users were increasingly posting links to external content.
Even Facebook seemed to have lost hope in the humble text status. Instead, it was busy encouraging users to adopt its new Live video service — and prioritizing the format on its News Feed. In November, Facebook’s chief product officer Chris Cox predicted that by 2021 video will generate 70 percent of the traffic on the platform.
The launch of an otherwise small update such as the colored status background reveals that Facebook hasn’t given up on text just yet. And, who knows, maybe if Android users take to the new feature it will lead to more visual customization tools in the feature. Seeing as playful text and drawing tools are already available on Facebook Live and Messenger’s native camera, there’s plenty more Facebook could do to get its users sharing personal messages on its flagship platform once again.
