Facebook rolling out bigger images for links, professional skills for user profiles

Facebook is making tweaks to its website in order to make it far more helpful for professionals and social media marketers.

Nishtha Kanal|Sep 11, 2013, 12:50:11 IST

Facebook is making tweaks to its website in order to make it far more helpful to users, especially professionals and social media marketers. It is planning to increase the size of images on links shared on desktop and mobile ads. Facebook is also adding a “professional skills” option to user profiles.

When links were shared on Facebook earlier, it would appear alongside thumbnail images. Text was given more preference and images were given a small corner within the share. Facebook is about to change this. Images are going to occupy most of the shared space in order to boost clickthrough rates.

Larger images

This change will affect Page post link ads, Page like ads, offer ads and event ads. The larger images programme is an extension of one started back in June that helped simplifying ad products.

Now when you put in an advertisement on Facebook, the images on the post will appear a lot larger than they were earlier, luring users in to click on it. According to Facebook, the minimum image size should now be 560 x 292 pixels, but in order for it to work for everyone, it should be 1200 x 627 pixels. The image will be far bigger and clicking anywhere on it will take you to the website.

More from News Analysis

A category for professional skills

The social network has something in store for regular users too. In a move that mimics LinkedIn, Facebook has added a fully discoverable “professional skills” option to profiles. In the About section of your profiles, you will find this section under Work and Education.

You can now fill in specific professional skills you have like Marketing, Journalism and Public Relations so that these are discoverable when someone searches for these skills on Facebook. Clicking on one of these will take you to a page showing which of your friends share the same skill.

By Nishtha Kanal

Intrigued by all things social, Nishtha will invariably tweet about you. When not tweeting or writing about the next viral video, you will hear her proclaiming her love to Metallica, James Hetfield, Opeth, Akerfeldt and all bands that go 'growl'. She also obsesses about ACP Pradyuman and South Park and you will always find her moving around with a book. Her focus is on all the happening stuff in the tech domain, and she won't hesitate to take a shot at some of the oddball devices that make their way to our labs.

Why AI notetakers are raising serious privacy and security concerns

AI notetakers promise effortless meeting summaries, but experts warn they could expose confidential conversations, corporate secrets and personal voiceprints. As businesses increasingly adopt AI-powered meeting assistants, questions over data storage, privacy, consent and legal risks are becoming impossible to ignore

5 min read

China's low-cost AI models are changing the global AI race. Here's why Silicon Valley is worried

As Chinese firms continue to improve performance while keeping prices low, the AI race is no longer just about building the smartest model—it is increasingly becoming a battle over who can deliver the best value

2 min read

China's Kimi K3 challenges US AI leaders with frontier-level performance at lower cost

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI has unveiled its latest open-weight AI model, Kimi K3, with early results suggesting it could compete with some of the world's most advanced AI systems developed by leading US companies

2 min read

How did Instagram run ads promoting child abuse in India?

India has issued a notice to Meta after an investigation alleged that Instagram displayed paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material. MeitY ordered Meta to remove such Instagram ads and explain within seven days how they were approved

8 min read

Why has India halted WhatsApp’s username feature before launch?

India has halted WhatsApp’s planned username feature, citing concerns about cybercrime, impersonation, and law enforcement challenges. As Meta races to address security concerns, here’s why MeitY has paused the rollout, what the feature does, and how it could influence privacy and online safety in India

3 min read

Up Next