Facebook 101 – Add Or Change Profile Pictures

We’ve had a few questions recently about how to add or change the profile and cover photos on a Facebook Account. Fortunately, it’s a pretty simple process.  Let’s start by going to your profile page. Open Facebook and click or tap on your name at the top.

This will take you to your profile page. The large banner photo across the top is your cover photo, the smaller photo to the left is your profile picture.

If you haven’t added any photos yet, it will look like this.

Let’s start by adding a profile picture. The profile picture will display whenever you post and is the image that will represent you on Facebook. This image is really designed to display a close-up shot of your face or an image that looks good in a small square.  Hover over the blank profile image or your current profile picture to get the option to change or add a photo, then click or tap on that options.

You have the option to upload a photo from your device, take a photo using the camera on your device or select from a photo that you already have uploaded to Facebook.

Look for an image that works well as a small square. A group photo or a shot taken from a distance might not work for this purpose.  If I select upload, I can choose from images on the computer.

To select a photo already uploaded to Facebook,  just click on it.

You can also use images of you uploaded by others as long as you are tagged in the photo and they permit others to use their pictures. Just select Photos of You and pick a photo.

Once a photo is selected, you can drag it to position it so the best part of the image is showing. The entire photo is saved to your album, but only the thumbnail shows in your profile picture. So if there’s something a photo that you don’t want anyone to see, crop it before you upload it to Facebook. Use the slider bar to zoom in on the photo.

Once the photo is properly positioned, choose Save.

The image will now display as your profile picture.

Now that the profile picture is set, we’ll work on your cover photo in part 2 of this tip.

~ Cynthia