Facebook Giving Users More Control Over Their Profile Picture
Based on feedback Facebook says it has been receiving from users, the social network plans to give people more control over their profile picture.
“Part of our goal in building global community is understanding the needs of people who use Facebook how we can better serve them,” explains Aarati Soman, Product Manager for Facebook. “We’ve heard that people want more control over their profile pictures, and we’ve been working over the past year to understand how we can help.”
Facebook is piloting new tools that give people in India more control over who can download and share their profile pictures. The social network hopes to expand its pilot to other countries in the future.
“Profile pictures are an important part of building community on Facebook because they help people find friends and create meaningful connections,” says Soman, “but not everyone feels safe adding a profile picture.”
In addition, the company is exploring ways people can more easily add designs to profile pictures, which research has shown helpful in deterring misuse.
“We’ve learned that when someone adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, other people are at least 75% less likely to copy that picture,” notes Soman.
Where possible, Facebook will even prevent others from taking a screenshot of a user’s profile picture on Facebook.
