Facebook rolls out AI-powered animations for profile pictures to attract younger users

Facebook adds new AI features, animated profile photos and backgrounds for text posts | TechCrunch

Facebook announced new AI-powered features on Tuesday designed to let users express themselves in more playful ways across the platform. The updates include animated profile pictures, photo restyling tools for Stories and Memories, and the ability to add animated backgrounds to text posts. As Meta works to maintain Facebook's relevance among younger users on its flagship app, it's likely betting that these new features will deliver a more personalized experience that appeals to Gen Z. The new animated profile picture feature applies motion effects to static photos, making the subject appear to be waving, making a heart shape, or wearing a virtual party hat. To achieve the best results, Facebook recommends using a clear photo of a single person facing the camera. Photos can be pulled directly from a user's camera roll or from images already on the platform. The company also plans to add more animation options throughout the year. Facebook is also enhancing its Stories -- short photo and video posts that disappear after 24 hours -- and Memories -- a feature that resurfaces posts from the same date in previous years -- with "Restyle," a tool that uses Meta AI to reimagine the look of user-uploaded images. After uploading a photo to Stories or selecting a Memory to share, users can tap Restyle and either enter a text-based prompt or select from preset themes, including anime, illustrated, glowy, ethereal, and more. There are also options to adjust moods, lighting, and colors, and to swap in new backdrops such as a beach or a cityscape. To spice up text posts, Facebook is also gradually rolling out animated backgrounds. By clicking on the new rainbow "A" icon, users can choose from a variety of still and animated scenes, such as falling leaves or rolling ocean waves, to make their posts stand out in the feed. The company says that seasonal backgrounds are coming soon. With around 2.1 billion daily active users, Facebook remains a social media giant. However, in recent years, it has struggled to attract and retain a younger demographic. To address this, the platform has embraced new technology, including AI, and introduced a more youthful redesign. Other recent updates include a friends-only feed and the ability to use unique display names within Groups, similar to how Reddit handles usernames in its communities. The platform is also attempting to make its poke feature -- a way to tap another user on the shoulder, so to speak -- relevant again by launching a new dedicated button on users' profiles that alerts the recipient to a poke via notifications.

Facebook can animate your profile pic with AI

Facebook is rolling out new AI features that let you animate your profile picture and restyle Stories and Memories. You'll also be able to add animated backgrounds to text posts to make them pop in the feed. With the animated profile pictures, you'll be able to give a still photo motion with some preset types of animations, including "natural, party hat, confetti, wave, and heart," Meta says. Meta suggests using a photo featuring a single person facing the camera with a visible face who isn't holding anything. More animation options will be added "throughout the year." To restyle Stories or Memories, you can tap on the Restyle button and either type out the changes you want Meta's AI to make to the photo or pick from Meta's pre-set options, like "anime" or "low-poly." And to spruce up your text posts with the new animated backgrounds, while you're drafting a post, look for an A icon over a rainbow background to pull up a menu of different background styles to pick from, including both animated and still options. Facebook is still a huge platform, with more than 2 billion daily active unique users. But Meta has recently made a renewed effort to make Facebook more culturally relevant again, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying last year that he wanted to "get back to some OG Facebook." As part of that, it introduced a dedicated friends-only feed that ditches the algorithmic junk.

Facebook is offering Meta AI-powered animations for profile photos

Meta has been going all in on AI, whether people want it or not, and now it's bringing more features in that vein to Facebook. The network's latest move is to let people use Meta AI to animate their profile photos. Because what better way to express your individuality than to use a pre-canned AI-generated animation on your own face? Meta AI is also coming for your Facebook Stories and Memories. The network's Restyle lets you use gen-AI to change up the aesthetic of your posts. You can once again use pre-canned stylings or give the AI assistant your own prompt. In the company's own words, the new tools that will create "share-worthy moments that spark meaningful interactions and conversations with friends." I guess meaning is in the eye of the beholder. If you're desperate to behold even more AI slop, Meta recently said its Vibes feed of exactly that content will be getting a standalone app.

Facebook Adding AI Profile Picture Animations and Story Editing Tools

Meta today announced several new AI features for popular social network Facebook. The capabilities will be available for profile pictures, photos, posts, stories, and more. Meta AI's image editing tools can be used to animate a profile picture, adding motion to a still image. Meta says there are several preset animations like confetti, headphones, wave, and heart to choose from, with more to be added throughout the year. There does not appear to be an option for creating custom animations. Text-based AI prompts can be used for creating images for Facebook Stories and Memories. After uploading a photo to Stories or viewing a memory to share, the Meta AI-powered Restyle option can be used to describe changes that you want to make to the image. Meta will also offer presets with different style options, moods, lighting, colors, and backdrops. Finally, Facebook is getting an option for adding an animated backdrop to Feed text posts to make them "more fun and expressive." When creating a text post on Facebook, tapping on the rainbow-colored "A" icon will provide multiple still and animated backgrounds to choose from. Meta plans to introduce seasonal backgrounds in the future to make posts feel "timely, festive, and a little more fun." Meta has been heavily pushing its AI products in Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Conversations with Meta's generative AI are used for ad targeting and personalization purposes, with no way to opt out. Meta AI is also used for several image editing and generation features in Facebook and Instagram, plus Meta has adopted it for search across Meta apps.

Meta will now animate your Facebook profile picture with AI

Facebook is rolling out a new, Meta AI-powered feature that will allow users to animate their profile pictures. Was the online public necessarily clamoring for Facebook profile pictures that waved via AI? Well...not really. But it's here nonetheless. Users will have access to preset animations that will turn a photo into an AI-powered, GIF-like moving profile picture. Wrote Facebook in a press release: "You can now animate your profile picture, turning a still photo into a playful animation in seconds. Choose from preset animations -- like natural, party hat, confetti, wave, and heart -- to bring your profile picture to life depending on how you're feeling. We'll add more animation options throughout the year so you can celebrate and express yourself during seasonal moments and special events. For the best results, we recommend using a photo that features a single person facing the camera with their face clearly visible, and not holding other objects. You can select photos to animate directly from your camera roll or choose photos you've already uploaded to Facebook. Once a photo is animated, you can share it to your Feed and view it on your profile." Is it the coolest thing to animate your profile picture to make it look like you're making a heart with your hands? Not really. But honestly, I can imagine a kooky aunt or uncle loving it. And kooky aunts and uncles love Facebook as much as they love AI photos and images. Facebook also announced it had added a "restyle" feature that uses AI to touch-up or change photos in Stories. So, a normal photo with a friend, for instance, could be reimagined to look like an illustration. The restyle feature has preset options and can also reimagine a photo based on a text prompt.