Facebook is apparently testing a new profile layout on mobile, sporting some notable visual changes that put photos front and center.
As an increasing number of users are now doing their browsing and social media activity on their mobile devices, companies are naturally focusing on this trend—and Facebook is no different.
Mobile is a top priority for the social media company, so optimizing layouts to look and work better on the smaller screens of mobile devices is an essential aspect. It now seems that users may soon get a profile redesign on the Facebook mobile app, as the company is experimenting with some visual changes.
As spotted by the folks over at The Next Web (TNW), a Facebook user in Italy posted an intriguing screenshot on Twitter, showing a new look for his Facebook profile (see image above). The redesign displays the profile photo as a small square and brings it from the left to the middle. The cover photo looks slightly smaller as well, and the name no longer appears next to the profile photo but right below it. The configuration of some buttons also appears to be different.
"#Facebook is evolving its mobile layout. Once the pic will be into a circle it definitely will change into #google+," the user noted in the description of the screenshot he posted on Twitter.
#Facebook is evolving its mobile layout. Once the pic will be into a circle it definitely will change into #google pic.twitter.com/65JHgL9KCm
— Marco Menaballi (@menazone) August 19, 2015
It remains unclear at this point just when or if Facebook plans to roll out these redesigned profiles for all users. For now, the company seems to be experimenting with the new look and rolling out the changes only to some select users. If everything goes right, Facebook could further extend the experimental layout to more users and eventually make the change for everyone.
For the time being, Facebook has yet to make an official announcement in this regard, which suggests that the testing phase could last for a while longer. All in all, the new profile layout indicates that Facebook aims to make its social network more photo-focused, at least on mobile, which could mean that future versions of Facebook could put photos front and center.
