Facebook debuted its Bitmoji-like virtual avatars last year, and they were available in a few countries but not the US. Today, the social media giant has started rolling out avatars in the US. These avatars can be used on Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Stories.

Starting today, you can create customized avatars of yourself and post them in comments, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Stories. These avatars are Facebook’s answer to Bitmojis and Apple’s Memojis. Avatars offer a way to express yourself through your virtual lookalike. However, you can also customize an avatar that looks like anything you want.

Facebook’s Fidji Simo announced that avatars could also be used in text posts with backgrounds and Facebook Gaming profiles. Although there are hundreds of emojis and stickers out there that you can use to express yourself, avatars offer a way to add a bit of personality and uniqueness to your expressions.

If you want to create your avatar on Facebook, you should head to the comment composer on Facebook or Facebook Messenger, tap the smiley button, select the Sticker tab, and then click on ‘create your avatar.’

Since COVID-19 lockdowns started, social media websites like Facebook began to see a massive surge in usage and customer interaction. To capitalize on this surge, Facebook started rolling out more features to its products, including avatars. The company also increased the limits of the number of people that can simultaneously be present in a group video call.

Facebook also announced the Rooms feature recently and integrated it into Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Portal, and WhatsApp. It also rolled out Dark Mode to all its apps and websites. The social media firm launched a standalone Facebook Gaming app, added Quiet Mode to its mobile app, and introduced standalone Facebook Messenger apps for macOS and Windows.

Our Take

Over the past couple of years, users have reduced spending their time on Facebook and started using other apps like Instagram, Houseparty, and Snapchat. To attract more users and to entice existing users to spend more time on Facebook, the company has been adding more features.

Avatars are an excellent way to add some personality and uniqueness to expressions, but we think Facebook could’ve done more work on them. They don’t look as good as Apple’s Memojis or even Bitmojis. They need a bit of polish if Facebook wants more people to use them.