Facebook Tests Adaptive Color Backgrounds for Profiles

An article by Andrew Hutchinson

@adhutchinson

RP SocialMediaToday

Facebook Tests Adaptive Color Backgrounds for Profiles

Maybe, this will work? Possibly?

According to a new discovery by reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook looks to be testing out a new option that would alter the background color of your profile within the mobile app based on the dominant color in your profile image.

As you can see in these examples, the process would work by identifying the main color within your profile picture, then adapting the background color to align with that. Which looks interesting, I guess, but it would also be a significant change to your regular Facebook browsing experience.

It's not a major surprise to see Facebook once again experimenting with adaptive color schemes. Back in 2017, Facebook experimented with similar for links, switching the headline display in posts to the dominant color of the link preview image.

Facebook also tried color backgrounds for comments later in 2017, as it sought to find new ways to make certain elements stand out, but none of those have made it through to a full rollout. Which could suggest that this iteration won't either - but Facebook is still experimenting with major color shifts, which, if any of them do get released, will be significant.

But do people want to be confronted with a rainbow of different shades when searching through Facebook? Would it add value, or enhance the user experience in any way?

No doubt Facebook is weighing these questions already, but for me, it doesn't really add much, and I can't imagine it will increase engagement or interest, outside of a short term novelty. 

But then again, maybe that's all that Facebook needs - maybe this isn't planned as a full update, but a test it can release when it needs to boost profile views in a short space of time, then report increased engagement. That feels like an overly skeptical perspective, but basically, I don't know that this is something that will improve Facebook in any way. 

But that's just me - maybe others will feel different about it.