Facebook Adds AI Features, Animated Avatars, and Text Post Backgrounds

Facebook has unveiled a suite of new AI-powered features this Tuesday, designed to enable users to express themselves in more engaging ways on the platform. These updates include animated profile pictures, photo "reimagine" tools for Stories and Memories, and the ability to add animated backgrounds to text posts.

As Meta strives to maintain Facebook's appeal among younger demographics on its flagship app, it likely hopes these new features will deliver a more personalized experience to attract Gen Z users.

The new animated profile picture feature adds dynamic effects to static photos, making the subject appear to wave, form a heart shape with their hands, or wear a virtual party hat. For optimal results, Facebook recommends using a clear, single-person photo facing the camera. Photos can be pulled directly from a user's camera roll or selected 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-lived photo and video posts that disappear after 24 hours—and Memories—posts from the same date in previous years that resurface—through a "reimagine" tool. This tool uses Meta AI to creatively reinterpret the appearance of user-uploaded images.

After uploading a photo to Stories or selecting a Memory to share, users can tap "reimagine" and either enter a text-based prompt or choose from preset themes, including Anime, Illustration, Glowing, and Ethereal. Options are also available to adjust mood, lighting, and colors, and to swap in new backgrounds like a beach or cityscape.

To make text posts more visually interesting, Facebook is also rolling out animated backgrounds. By tapping a new rainbow "A" icon, users can select from a variety of static and animated scenes, such as falling leaves or rolling ocean waves, to help their posts stand out in the News Feed. The company states that seasonal backgrounds are coming soon.

With approximately 2.1 billion daily active users, Facebook remains a social media titan. However, in recent years, it has faced challenges in attracting and retaining younger users.

To address this, the platform has adopted new technologies, 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 has also attempted to make its "poke" feature—arguably a way to lightly tap another user on the shoulder—relevant again by launching a new dedicated button on user profiles, which alerts the recipient with a notification when they are poked.