Everyone is talking about Facebook's fresh, new dating platform: Facebook Dating. But the feature is still in its infancy, and users have a lot of questions. How do I set up my profile? What pictures can I use, and how can I make sure they fit fully in the required 1:1.2 aspect ratio?

Facebook Dating allows you to upload photos from your phone or use pictures that you've already uploaded to Facebook. In this article, I'll show you what a Facebook Dating profile looks like and explain the requirements for photos there so that your profile looks its best.

How to Get to Facebook Dating Profile

Users access Facebook Dating from inside of the Facebook app (for now, it's a mobile-only product that you can't access on the Facebook website). To create a Facebook Dating profile, open your Facebook app. Go to the menu by pressing the button at the bottom right-hand corner - it looks like 3 lines stacked on top of each other - and scroll down to "Dating."

The first time that you open Facebook Dating, you'll see a sequence of info graphics welcoming you to the feature and explaining how it works.  Then, Facebook will automatically create a default Dating profile for you based on the info on your profile and the photos you've uploaded to Facebook. It's free and fast to customize the profile.

About Facebook Dating Profiles

Facebook Dating profiles look a lot like Hinge profiles. A profile show a list of photos that scroll vertically with a name, profile photo, and bio information at the top. Daters can fill their profile with photos or answers to questions.

• Bio Info: By default, dating profiles show age, job title, company, high school, college, and hometown, all pulled from your Facebook profile. Daters can make all profile information invisible except for age, location, and first name. You can also add preferences for children, religious views, and height, although it is not required.
• Photos: Daters can add up to 12 photos to show potential matches what they look like. Every photo is cropped to a 1:1.2 aspect ratio. You can use Facebook's standard editing tools to add stickers, text, doodles, filters, etc.
• Videos: Currently, Facebook dating profiles support still photos only. You cannot upload videos or GIFs to your profile.
• Questions: Daters can choose to fill some of the 12 photo slots with an answer to a dating question instead. Choose from one of Facebook's 32 pre-set questions like "My personal hero is..." or "My idea of a perfect day is..." The answers you type appear as 2:1 tiles on your profile with either a colored background or a semi-transparent photo that you select. Females can choose pink, purple, or gray tones for their tile colors; males choose blue hues.

• Introductions: Daters have 500 characters to type anything they want at the top of their profile. The intro text is the first thing that prospective matches will see on your profile, so don't miss the chance to stand out.

Users can edit and preview their profile inside of the Facebook Dating section of the Facebook app.

Photos for Facebook Dating

The photo editing options for Facebook Dating are the same as the tools that appear when uploading photos from the Facebook newsfeed.

Facebook Dating photos must have a 1:1.2 aspect ratio, so you will need to crop your portrait and landscape images to make them fit. When you choose "Edit" after selecting a photo, you can crop your picture by pinching & dragging inside the photo frame. And if your photo is taller or wider than 1:1.2, you can drag it any direction to choose what portion of the photo you want to use.

If your photo is taller or wider than 1:1.2, then you won't be able to include the entire photo in the frame, since Facebook Dating doesn't allow you to zoom out and add padding around your photo.

To make your whole picture fit in the Facebook Dating frame, I recommend using Kapwing, a free online photo & video editor that works with any device and browser. First, go to Kapwing.com and click "Get Started" (or, if you're already signed in, choose "New Project" and "Start with Studio"). Then, upload the photo that you want to use for Facebook Dating.

Once your photo has been uploaded, you can resize the photo to the dimensions required by Facebook Dating. Click "Edit Canvas" and tap the "Custom" option under output size to enter a 1:1.2 size, maybe 800x960.

Once the canvas adjusts, select your photo and tap & drag its corner buttons to position it exactly the way you want in the 1:1.2 frame. Kapwing's default added padding is white, which goes well with Facebook Dating's light theme, but you can also press "Edit Canvas" to change your background color.

Kapwing's video editing capabilities are broader than Facebooks. While in the Studio, you can recolor to black & white, mirror the photo, rotate, make a collage, or add text.

Once your picture looks perfect, press "Publish" at the top of the screen. Kapwing will automatically start to process you photo! In just a few seconds, you'll arrive at the download page. Long-press the image to save it.

When you create your Facebook Dating profile, you can upload photos from your file browser. If you choose a photo that you've resized to 1:1.2, you won't need to make any other edits, so you can simply add it to your profile.

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