I notice that some of my friends are posting updates on Facebook that have festive backgrounds featuring a cartoon version of themselves. I want to be able to do that too! How can I accomplish the task?
There’s one big step you have to go through before you can proceed with the holiday themed backgrounds to your Facebook posts: Create your Facebook Avatar. It can only be done from the Facebook for Mobile app, so you’ll be doing the task on your Android or iPhone device. I have a detailed tutorial that’ll help you do it quickly: How To Create Your Facebook (Animoji) Avatar.
Got it all set up? Great! Then let’s proceed…
After standing out as the boring but clean looking blue and white design of early days, differentiating it from the eyesore of MySpace’s chaos, Facebook has gradually allowed for more and more personalization so that our posts can stand out in people’s endless newsstream. First it was colored backgrounds, then graphical wallpapers, but now once you have your Facebook avatar all set up, it occasionally includes very personalized wallpapers that include, well, you in the graphic! They’re accessible through the same mechanism you use for any post, and once you’ve set up your Facebook avatar on your mobile, work on both mobile and desktop Facebook.
HOW TO USE PERSONALIZED FACEBOOK AVATAR WALLPAPERS
It seems like these appear for specific holidays and then vanish again, so once the Christmas/New Year’s ones vanish, I expect that some tied to Valentine’s Day and then spring will appear. So let’s get this demo going stat!
As always, here’s what you see on the Desktop FB interface before you’ve clicked or started typing in your message:
As soon as you click on the box with “What’s on your mind, Dave?” (well, with your name substituted, of course) it opens up to a bigger box with more options:
If there are avatar-themed wallpapers available, they’ll show up along the row of wallpaper buttons on the bottom. You can see in the above that there are three different options at this moment. A click on the first one, with the green background, for example, and this is now what’s on screen:
I missed Christmas by a week so that’s not a great choice (though it is still the twelve days of Christmas, I don’t think many people actually keep count), but it does bring up a question: How do you change to see another one if that’s all it’s showing?
The answer is: scroll down on the image. It’s not a great design, but some of these wallpapers are longer than the default update entry window area, so while the row of background wallpapers is still present – allowing you to try another one – you can’t see ’em.
Just below the visible area is this:
Ahhhh now you can see what’s going on. Not only that, but it’s easy to see about the 2020 wallpaper…
Or check out the lighter blue New Year’s Eve party wallpaper, for that matter…
The other wallpapers shown are also attractive but lack your avatar. If you click on the last of them, with the grid of four black squares, you’ll get to a larger listing of even more background wallpapers. Facebook now has quite a gallery from which we can choose!
I’ll back up to the 2020 wallpaper since it’s now Jan 2 and I can’t really still be celebrating New Year’s Eve. A few words to express my view and I’m ready to share:
And that’s how ya do it. Once you’ve set up your Facebook avatar on your Facebook for Mobile app, it’s pretty easy!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Facebook since it first appeared on the Internet. Please check out my quite extensive Facebook help library for hundreds of useful tutorials and insider tips and tricks. And why not follow AskDaveTaylor on Facebook for even more tips and tricks? Thanks!
This thread started in January. It’s September – is there any new information for those of us with avatars but no backgrounds including them?
Unfortunately, I have not seen any updates from Facebook about why some people have this feature while others are still unable to access these avatar backgrounds. Super frustrating!
Is there a way to to activate the backgrounds? I have an avatar but no backgrounds? I have deleted my app a couple times? It’s so frustrating.
Same problem here. Got the avatar yesterday but no background options. My daugther got the avatar yesterday and also the background options.
I’m having the same problem with the back ground for the posts. Why can’t I not use the back ground to post on my Facebook page?
Me too. This is the first time I found people talking about this. I never find anything explain why I didn’t get avatar background, and why lots of people have those back ground
Same here. I logged out of mine and then logged Into my hubby on my phone. I don’t have the backgrounds on my fb account but he does so I know it’s fb issue not a phone issue. Doesn’t make any sense to me but I does annoy the crap outta me that I don’t have them when so many others do.
Same problem as some of you. I have Avatar, can use as stickers in comments but NO BACKGROUNDS. I have deleted FB, Messenger, restarted phone, logged out on laptop, repeatedly, still NO AVATAR BACKGROUNDS. I have researched extensively and found absolutely nothing that addresses this problem. I WANT avatar backgrounds, please.
I dont have them either….
I also can’t get the AVATAR wall paper on FB. I have an Avatar and it works with Messenger or texts that I send, but not in the What’s on Your Mind on FB
Very Frustrating.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled face book numerous times . I have also deleted cache and data . I am able to set up my avatar but I am unable to get the avatar backgrounds what am i doing wrong . Could it be because I downloaded the original avatar a few years back ? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated thank you for your time .
I have my avatar set up but still no background options. I want background options!!
Hey Dave
Do you happen to know if we can create our own background for our posts?
These all have such BIG expressions. I would love to create one that is a “thoughtful” expression, Or a meditative state… Something like this.
Any idea on how to do that or if that is something we can do?
I have researched a ton but only come to articles that tell me how to customize my avatar not the background.
Thanks much! Jen
You cannot create your own backgrounds, nor do I imagine that Facebook will allow that in the near future, Jen.
Hmmm 🧐 I have an Avatar on my iPhone but NO background options. WHY❓❓❓
It seems like most of my Facebook friends have them. I’m really green with envy.
Aha! I just figured it out. I just had to click in the exact correct spot on the words. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Dave, for your help. I now have a avatar themed background, but it still says “What’s on your mind, Kay?” I can’t figure out how to get my message in there instead. Any suggestions?
Thank you, Kay
Why doesn’t facebook make this available to everyone? I don’t have this as an option. Is something going to change. This is nuts.
Same here have the avatar but no with background available, I have logged out, delete app, restart iPhone, downloaded the app, logged back in and still nothing… is there a way to activate it?
I have two Facebook accounts. One for work and one I use for personal stuff. The work account has the Avatar backgrounds….my personal account does not. VERY FRUSTRATING!!
I have an avatar set up, but have not and still do not have the wallpapers with the avatars. They are just NOT in my selections. Some new ones for the holidays have , yes , phantomly appear, but NONE with avatars !!
Facebook. It often offers features to some users but not others, causing much frustration. Wish I had a solution, Carol…
Yes why is this option not available to me? Don’t know why and I’ve logged out and gone back in and it still doesn’t appear. Am I doing something wrong?
I do not have any if the options for the avatars even when i followed all of these instructions. I can send my avatar in messenger or comments but no background options are there where you said it was.
I still do not have this option available to me.
Same here…so frustrating! I don’t understand why avatar-themed wallpapers aren’t available to me and yet I see numerous friends posting with them!
I Am in the same situation… I have avatar but no background…
I am beginning to wonder why would Facey even give everyone the ability to create a Avatar and no wallpaper. That’s like a brand new car with no steering wheel???