Do you know Facebook as well as you think? A lot of stuff has changed over the past few months, so take a look at our roundup of everything that’s going on – from live video to changes in cover image sizes.
Cover Photo Sizes
Your cover photo is the large image that appears at the top of your profile or page. Facebook changed the size slightly in April, so it’s worth checking it’s still displaying correctly.
The size your cover displays at on desktop changed from 851 x 315 pixels to 828 x 315 pixels. If you change your photo, remember to check on mobile to make sure your profile picture doesn’t cover up anything important.
For some reason, Facebook’s still recommending you upload a cover that’s 851 x 315. Maybe they forgot to update that part?
20% Rule
For a long time, Facebook have had a policy where image ads can’t have more than 20% of the area covered by text. It’s known as the 20% rule.
It used to be easy to accidentally get ads disapproved because you’d included too much text. Now, Facebook have relaxed their guidelines – you can include as much text as you like, but the more you have, the lower the reach of your ads will be.
The rule isn’t gone, but this change gives advertisers a bit more flexibility.
Facebook Live
This new feature allows you to stream video live to a profile, business page, group or event, via the iOS and Android Facebook apps. All you need to do is go to , then click . After that you just need to write a brief description, select your audience and click Go Live.
It looks like Facebook are hoping to compete with the likes of Periscope, with real-time comments appearing on the video.
As most people have Facebook already, this is a great way to give a virtual tour of your office, have a Q&A session or stream video from an event you’ve put together.
If you’re Marvel, that means streaming the press conference for the new Captain America film.
Notifications about live videos have been annoying the hell out of some people, but Facebook’s rolling out the option to turn them off. Phew!
Just go to Settings > Notifications > On Facebook and turn off the Live videos option.
Instant Articles
The Instant Articles feature is great if you already publish a load of content. It’s a way to post articles on Facebook that will load a lot faster than a regular webpage would.
Facebook say the articles you post will have better engagement and shareability.
To sign up for the programme, you’ll need to submit a minimum of 50 articles, so this is only really useful if you produce content regularly or already have articles you can reformat and submit.
Messenger
It used to be that the best way to interact with customers on Facebook was through posts on your page. Now, it’s much easier for people to get in touch with you using messages.
If you’re the admin of a page on Facebook, you can turn messaging on for that page. It’s easier to find businesses on the Facebook Messenger app now, and you can share a link that people can click to send you a message. There's even a new Messenger Code, which is like an image people can scan using their smartphone to start a conversation. Here's what they look like:
If you turn messages on, you should obviously have someone in charge of responding to them. Get back to 90% of people within 15 minutes and you’ll get a snazzy ‘Very responsive to messages’ badge on your page.
Another advantage of using messenger is that it makes complaints and sensitive queries less public. Facebook have some tips here.
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