Quick Social Media Cover Image Sizes

There is no shortage of services and independent designers who will create cover photos for your social accounts. They'll likely come up with something creative based on your input and feedback, and provide the correct sizes you need. All at a fair price.

But what if you just want something simple that will get your profiles done quickly so you can move on to more important activities?

This is often the case for me. I like to get new Pages up quickly so I can start posting content and growing the followers. I needed a table I could glance at and know what images I need and what their sizes should be. A barebones list of images and dimensions that can be used to guide cropping and resizing. I can always upgrade the cover photos later if I want. Plus I think it’s a good idea anyway to change cover images from time to time to keep the Page fresh.

So I came up with a social media profile and cover image size table below, which quickly gives me exactly what I need.

Profile images, or “avatars” as some social sites call them, are usually square. In the table I didn't specify maximum sizes for Facebook and Google+ profiles because I’m not sure what they are. I couldn't find anything in their support pages. Being curious, I uploaded some very large image files to each social network. No problem! Of course, I was asked to crop the images since they were so big, and then they were reduced further when saved.

The following image size information was compiled by reading the specs on each social network's support pages and reviewing advice posted by graphic designers. The dimensions are up to date at the time this article was posted. For best results use the largest sizes listed if you can. All image dimensions are in pixels, with width first followed by height.

Social Network	Profile Min	Profile Max	Cover Image Min	Cover Image Max	Background Image
Facebook	180 x 180	n/a	851 x 315
Twitter	240 x 240	500 x 500	520 x 260	1252 x 626	1600 x 900
Google+	250 x 250	n/a	480 x 270	2120 x 1192	1920 x 1080
LinkedIn	200 x 200	500 x 500	640 x 220
YouTube	200 x 200	1600 x 1600			2560 x 1440
Pinterest	165 x 165	600 x 600
Gravatar	80 x 80	420 x 420
Tumblr	64 x 64	n/a
Foursquare	128 x 128	100KB	860 x 130 (brand pages)

 

I like to use this table by looking up the social media accounts I need cover images for, and then start with the largest.

For example, according to the table the YouTube background is the largest image. But let’s say I just need to create cover images for a new Google+ Page and a Facebook Page. Since Google+ it’s the biggest of the two I need that's where I start. And because I started with the biggest image I need, I may be able to use the same cover and crop and resize it down to Facebook size. It’s all about being efficient.

However, some of you may want to use an image template instead that shows where the profile image and other content is placed over the cover image. That way the content can be accounted for and designed around.

The content can also be creatively merged into the design if you want, such as this classic example from the Ford Motor Company's Facebook Page:



Note how the profile image of the Mustang emblem on the car's grill was incorporated into the overall cover image design. If this is something you want to design into your images it’s helpful to have templates that show where other content is positioned on top of the cover image.

Here are some diagrams with downloadable Photoshop templates: http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/social-media-cover-photo-templates/ This is one of the more up to date references I found.

The social networks seemingly frequent changing of cover sizes has been a source of frustration by many social media users (especially the ones who paid for custom designs). You get your YouTube channel or Facebook Page looking slick and then they go and change the sizes on you. And if you don’t update your Pages look outdated.

However, it seems like these sizes are stable now and may be around for a while. The trend over the years had been larger cover images, but how much bigger can they get? That’s why I think these sizes might be stable. But Facebook is the wildcard since their cover images are relatively small. Given they are the biggest and with the other networks chasing them, hopefully they won’t feel the need to make any "improvements" for a while. One can hope.

Bad Advice

The Internet is an extraordinary resource. Any subject you want to know about or understand is right at your fingertips. We can rely on the miracle that is the Internet for all of our informational needs.

Or can we?

More and more I’m seeing bad advice given to others in forums and in online groups. And thanks to social media, which makes it so easy to have public conversations, the problem is getting worse.

Here are some recent examples:

From a popular Facebook group: “Just download pictures from Google Images and you’ll be fine.” -A response to someone asking where they can legally get free images for their site. This is terrible advice that could get you into legal trouble with image owners.

From “A-list” blogs: “Never use pop-ups on your site…” –I’ve seen this one stressed by several “expert” bloggers. Though annoying to some (I don’t care for them either), pop-ups can increase conversions. To say “never” is awful advice that could cost you sales. Pop-ups should at least be tested if you’re thinking of using them.

Posted on LinkedIn: “WordPress is bad for business…” –I’m not going to get into this one, that’s just a big bowl of wrong right there.

Needless to say, you should not trust information you find on the Internet. “Well, duh!” you might be saying. But judging by the amount of bogus “interesting facts” forwarded to my inbox, and poor advice perpetuated by Facebook Likes, I really don’t think people have a clue that the “helpful” information they are passing around is, in reality, garbage.

So what to do about this problem? Here are a couple tips:

1. Question all online content, unless it’s from a trusted source that consistently provides accurate information. How to know if info is accurate to begin with? Read the next tip.


2. If you want to verify something as fact, you can crosscheck the info with other sources, or if it’s how to do something, you can test to see if it works.

It might seem like a pain having to crosscheck or test information. And it can be. But here’s what makes it worthwhile: by taking time to double-check a fact or see if a tip really works, you’ll discover the truth.

Armed with truthful information, now YOU become a trusted source. An expert.

You are the expert others will rely on for trusted information. And who do people do business with? Those they Know, Like and TRUST.

We’re heading into an era where online presence, that’s websites and people, are measured by trust. Online trust is behind the whole “content curation” trend. Google even has a “TrustRank” they assign to websites.

Without trust, it’s going to be hard to be successful online. And as time goes on, it’s just going to get tougher to make it online without that trust. By simply protecting yourself from bad information, you can become an expert and start building that foundation of trust that’s going to be critical for success in tomorrow’s online world.

Klout New Changes Show Strong Facebook Leanings

Klout begins roll out of new rating methods and it is being welcomed by many.

Today, Klout has started to roll out some of the new changes to their site along with new methods for calculating your influence. And that is exactly what Klout is all about. The changes are being done to better determine what your "real world influence" actually is and they are doing this by expanding the things they are looking at. That will initially result in some changes to your existing Klout score with many people seeing an increase in their number. And with anything like this, there will be those who see a decrease in their number. Those things just happen.

They have made changes which they are talking about on the Klout Blog with the most important changes of all being increased accuracy. With that change, they are providing more details about what they are collecting without really letting you know how they do any calculations to arrive at scores. Of note, Facebook is the first item in the blog describing the changes. If you have looked at your Klout score in the past, Twitter has been the first item being displayed on your score. More on that a little later.

Many prominent sources are giving positive reviews of the changes. Forbes is calling this a change we can believe in. This from Anthony Wing Kosner who has been critical of Klout's scoring system. In making the changes, they have expanded the number of variables they are looking at from 100 to 400. And with that, they are placing more emphasis on Facebook and LinkedIn items which were not part of the calculations. As an example, your LinkedIn job title will enter into the number they are assigning. That is to encourage you to link your LinkedIn account to Klout.

All of these changes should make everyone feel like they are looking at their social influence and not put you on the defensive. And with these changes, it is hoped that Klout can move further into the mainstream which they have been struggling to do. And part of that is the emphasis on Facebook and LinkedIn.


If you have looked at the site over the past few months, you will have noticed that they are pushing people to connect to Facebook and to "Invite" all your Facebook friends. They are adding to that by offering VIP access if you sign up 10 Facebook friends. In some respects it seems to show that they are trying to grow Facebook connections in advance of the complete roll out of the changes. With the emphasis on Facebook, it does appear to make sense, but at the same time appears to be putting a lot focus on that connection.

Given the huge growth of Facebook, it offers huge potential to Klout to add people to their rolls. Once they have your connection to Facebook, there is nothing to stop them from adding to your wall as so many others currently do. Some people are reporting multiple Klout requests on their Facebook page, but when they go to Klout they are not seeing anything. These are really requests from people for you to join Klout. Not exactly what you want to see in Facebook.

With any change comes controversy and it is starting because of the focus on Facebook. There are growing concerns about the information Klout is pulling from Facebook and putting into Klout. People who do not have a Klout account have found that some of their information from Facebook is showing up in Klout. This is starting to sound like earlier days with Facebook where there were privacy issues being reported. If Klout is not careful, they may get caught up in that as well.

With the changes, you can expect Klout to continue to encourage you to connect to all your accounts so that Klout can harvest information to determine Klout score. Just be aware that you will be exposing information you may not want out there.