It’s Pride Month, and if you’re looking to take part in the celebration of the LGBTQ community, all the major social platforms have various visual tools and post/profile additions that you can use to show your support.
First up, on Facebook – The Social Network has added some new variations of its popular Pride frames for your profile image.
To apply the new frames, head over to the Profile Frame Gallery and search for “fbpride.”
Once you’ve chosen the version you want to use, you can position it over your image as you like, then set the length of time you want to keep it on your profile. When friends see your frame, they’ll be given the option to try it too.
Facebook’s original Pride frame – modeled below by Leonardo DiCaprio – was released back in 2015 to celebrate the US Supreme Court’s decision to give same-sex couples the right to marry in all US states.
The effect has been applied by millions of users around the world, and it remains the most popular Facebook frame to date. The new variation will also, no doubt, see high usage.
Facebook’s also adding Pride-themed text backgrounds for your News Feed posts.
While they’re also activating new masks, stickers and effects in the Facebook Camera.
Over on Messenger, Facebook’s also adding some new decorative options.
Happy Pride! In celebration of Pride Month, we’ve introduced new AR filters, frames and stickers. Add some magic to your photos and videos to express yourself and share your love, support and gratitude. #prideconnectsus pic.twitter.com/J94zD1f0r3
— Messenger (@messenger) June 1, 2018
Facebook’s looking to add more AR-enabled tools to Messenger, and the popularity of Pride month will give them the opportunity to showcase these more advanced tools – check them out if you get a chance.
Instagram, meanwhile, will have a new rainbow background in Type mode, and rainbow versions of the mention, hashtag and location stickers in Stories.
As you can see in the third image above, there’ll also be a Pride-themed variant of the Instagram Live heart:
“In Live, each time you tap the heart, you’ll see a different color of the Pride rainbow – and holding down will send a shower of rainbow hearts to the person you’re watching as well as everyone who’s watching along with you”.
Instagram has also worked with GLAAD to identify hashtags that people throughout the LGBTQ+ community gather around and use to connect.
“Throughout Pride month, you’ll see a rainbow gradient on those hashtags everywhere they appear to encourage more people to discover and explore the photos and videos from people throughout the community.”
And finally, on Twitter – the platform has added automatically triggered emoji which will appear whenever you use any of these hashtags.
The last few years have seen significant progress for the LGBTQ community, but there’s still a long way to go before we’re able to provide the levels of acceptance and understanding required to make everyone in the community feel safe in being who they are.
We are improving, but it’s important to participate in events like Pride month to underline that gradual shift, and provide a more welcoming atmosphere for everyone – regardless of their preference.