While your profile photo is the identifying feature for your profile, letting friends and other users know who you are when they search your name and browse through the search results, your cover photo is not visible until they click through to your profile.
The cover photo sits at the top of your profile and is a secondary image that allows you to personalise your page and add some personality to your feed.
The shape of the cover photo is typically short but wide, lending itself to a landscape image or photo.
It’s a great place to celebrate your family, friends, or a hobby that you like to get involved in – adding another photo to compliment your profile image or to show a different side of your personality.
But how do you change it?
3 Steps to Change Your Cover Photo
- Click on the menu button in the bottom right hand corner of your screen and then select your name at the top of the menu, navigating straight to your profile page
- In the bottom corner of your cover photo, which sits across the top of the page just behind your profile image, select the camera icon
- Select either ‘Upload Photo’ to browse your device camera roll and find a new photo, or ‘Choose Cover Photo’ to select a new photo from your existing Facebook uploads
A relatively new feature enables you to create a cover collage, compiled of up to six different photos that you want to highlight and showcase on your profile.
When you upload a new cover photo or change it, it appears as an update on your feed which friends can like – unless of course you set the update to private. Whenever you click to view your cover photo, you will see all the interaction and reactions that have been shared by other users.
Tips for Choosing a Good Cover Photo
Now that you know how to change your cover photo, let’s consider a few quick tips on how to choose a good one…
The first and most important thing is format. While your profile photo needs to fit in the circular border, your cover photo is short but wide and needs to fit in a landscape format. If you don’t select a photo in the right dimensions, Facebook will crop the image for you and will likely cut off sections that you don’t want to lose.
Another thing to consider is the impact your cover photo has on your profile. When someone clicks through to your profile, the cover photo is one of the first things that they see – so make sure it reflects the persona you want to portray. If you own a business, for example, this cover photo could celebrate your branding; if your profile is private, it could be a family photo.
We hope this helps! Your cover photo is an integral part of your Facebook profile and should reflect you and your online personality.
