A picture is worth a thousand words—even on social media. Having profile photos, cover images, and timelines photos that are the right size is imperative to having a professional and well-rounded social media presence. Here are some image size guidelines to follow...

Facebook Photos

Keep in mind that photos will display differently on your personal page and a user’s newsfeed. Be sure to choose dimensions based on where you want most of the viewers to see your image.Your profile picture should be at least 180 x 180 pixels. This will ensure a good quality profile picture across all of Facebook, on desktop and mobile. Your cover photo appears at 820 x 312 pixels on desktop and 640 x 360 pixels on mobile. For best results, upload an sRGB JPG file that is less than 100 KB. If you are using a logo or text for your cover photo, a PNG is the best file format.A Facebook event cover photo should be 1920 x 1080 pixels. Facebook will scale down to show in feeds at minimum dimensions of 470 x 174 pixels.If you are sharing a photo on Facebook, the recommended dimensions are 1200 x 630 pixels. These photos will display on your timeline, and others’ news feeds. Not everyone will see your post; however, the more people interact with your post, the more your followers and their followers will scroll upon it.

Twitter Photos

Your profile photo on Twitter is the main image that represents you. It will be seen on your page, in-stream, and in Who to Follow. These photos should be a square image at 400 x 400 pixels, and the maximum file size is 2 MB. The header photo on your Twitter page should be 1500 x 500 pixels. The maximum file size is 5 MB. The best file types are JPG, GIF, or PNG.Your in-stream photos should be a minimum of 440 x 220 pixels, 2:1 ratio. Make sure the portion of the photo you want your followers to see is displayed and horizontally center the image to avoid weird cropping. You can tweet up to four images at once. The maximum file size is 5 MB for photos and 3 MB for GIFs.

Instagram Photos

Your Instagram profile picture should be 110 x 110 pixels. It will appear in a circle on your profile, so it is important to maintain a 1:1 aspect ratio.The ideal Instagram photo size is 1080 x 1080 pixels. Instagram scales these sizes down to 612 x 612 pixels, and appear on a feed at 510 x 510 pixels. Each photo will display in a row of thumbnails on your page at 161 x 161 pixels.Keep these image size guidelines in mind the next time you update your social media profiles or post a photo to your timeline.

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