Why Is My Facebook Status Colorful? Personalize Your Text Status With A Pretty Background

If you woke up this morning to find something curious on your Facebook feed, you're not alone: Many, in fact, are asking themselves, "Why are Facebook statuses colorful all of a sudden?" Well, the short answer is, it's a new feature currently being rolled out that will make sharing personal statuses more lively for mobile users. Bustle has reached out to Facebook for comment, but according to TechCrunch, Facebook has confirmed they'll be releasing the update globally across the next few days. While only Android users are able to make colorful Facebook statuses for the time being, everyone will be able to see them in their news feeds.

Update: Says a Facebook spokesperson to Bustle via email, “Starting today, people can update the background color of their text-only posts on Android.” The rollout begins the week of Dec. 19 (so, this week, for those keeping track); to use the feature — if, that is, you’re one of the lucky few who currently has it — all you have to do is tap, “What’s on your mind,” tap into the message box, choose your color, write your post, and tap “Post.”

Earlier: This is another attempt on Facebook's behalf to make the platform even more personalized than it already is, with a spokesperson telling TechCrunch that the colorful text statuses are intended to "help people make their text posts more visual." Photos offer such an intimate and unique touch; that's element that colors are intended to bring to text statuses. The feature allows users to pick a color to appear behind their text, where the background would normally be white. They even include color gradients, akin to the Instagram logo.

The new feature might not come as too big of a surprise, as back in September, Adam Mosseri — Facebook's VP of Product for News Feed — said that the sharing of professional content was growing much faster than personal content.

I can't say that's a huge shock to me. I used to update my Facebook friends with news of my personal life all the time, with vital gems of information like, "I just drank a glass of water," "It's so windy outside," and "I found this really cool rock today." After a while, I stopped wanting to broadcast every minute detail of my life. Keep a little mystery. But hey, if I could add colorful statuses, I would probably do it, just because.

All of this would explain another recent Facebook upgrade that posts shorter statuses in a larger font, making them far more noticeable when you're scrolling through your news feed.

People love having the opportunity to personalize their social media posts and make them "pretty." That could be the reasoning behind the new Instagram stickers and the many gorgeous Snapchat filters. Heck, even Twitter has stickers these days. Why? Because it's fun, and it makes us want to post. Something tells me we haven't seen the end of Facebook's plans to make the website and app even more customizable for personal use.