Facebook is testing some new visual effects options for still images posted to News Feed, which add simulated, video-like movement to your pictures.

As you can see in these screenshots, shared by social media expert Matt Navarra, the new options provide two sets of visual effects tools for your still image uploads:

• ‘Layout’ provides different presentation styles for multi-image posts (which Facebook started rolling out back in July)
• ‘Motion’ adds basic movement to your images

When you apply a motion option, it then creates a new type of image, which zooms or focuses like a video.

It’s similar to the ‘Animate’ option that Facebook added for Stories posts back in April, which provides the same types of options in Facebook Stories frames. Facebook also added simulated 3D for still image uploads in February, providing another way to add another, moving element to your still pictures.

The logic is that users are more likely to engage with moving content, like video, as opposed to still images, and in order to keep more people posting, and more people scrolling through, Facebook’s looking to provide more eye-catching, engaging tools like this to maximize user interest.

The effects themselves are fairly basic, but they could be worth considering, and they could also provide another element for brand Pages to consider in their product visuals and other uploads – provided they don’t get overused and start to look tacky.

But they’re not available to all users as yet. Some users have access to the new visual tools, but they don’t appear to be widely available at this stage. We’ve asked Facebook for confirmation on the roll out, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

It’s another consideration for your still image uploads, which could add a little extra to your feed. It’s not ground-breaking or game-changing in any way, but another handy option that could help boost engagement.