Facebook Photo Update to Allow for 8x Bigger Images, Easier Uploading

One of Facebook’s updates includes the ability to post higher-res images. Photo by Andrew Bosworth/Blog.Facebook.com.

Facebook has long been overdue for a major tweak to their photo viewing capability, which has primarily remained unchanged for the entirety of social network’s existence. Well that tweak finally came today as Facebook rolled out three big improvements to their photo-sharing function, including the ability to upload higher-resolution photos, a new photo browser/viewer and an easier, more intuitive uploader.

The maximum size for a photo now is 2048 pixels on the largest dimension, up from 720 pixels. This is an 8x increase and will likely make Facebook more of a competitor with other photo-sharing sites like Flickr and Picassa.

To go along with the significantly larger photo size, Facebook also gave their viewer a significant face-lift (seen above). The new viewer combines a more sleek and professional look, with easier functionality. While we haven’t had the chance to try it out yet, we have very high hopes.

Finally, Facebook’s new photo uploader allows individuals to tag friends and family in multiple photos at once. No need anymore to painstakingly scroll through each image and tag it. Facebook is also claiming that tweaks have been made to the backend of their uploader, making it more “stable and reliable,” especially for publishing large galleries. Again, we look forward to putting the new uploader to the test.

The update will be rolled out to all users over the course of October. For more information on these Facebook updates, head on over to their blog.