Updated 20/02/2025

As we enter 2025, several social media platforms are making adjustments to their algorithms, preferred aspect ratios, and tools like hashtags. This is your moment to catch up on social media platform changes, ensuring you remain competitive and effective in your 2025 content and digital marketing strategy.

There’s a lot on image size in this blog post, so let’s quickly review why image sizes matter on social media.

To briefly summarise, correctly sizing your images:

• Keeps your visuals sharp and clear: Incorrectly sized images can appear blurry or stretched, which instantly lowers the quality of your posts. Proper sizing ensures your visuals look crisp and professional every time.

• Captures attention and drives interaction: Well-sized, high-quality images are more likely to grab attention as users scroll through their feeds. This can lead to better engagement, whether through likes, shares, or comments.

• Fits perfectly into platform layouts: Each social media platform has its own unique way of displaying content. By following the correct dimensions, your images will fit perfectly without awkward cropping or empty spaces, giving your posts a polished appearance.

• Prepares your content for the future: Social media platforms constantly update their layouts and requirements. Keeping up-to-date with the latest image guidelines ensures your content remains relevant and adaptable to changes.

Sizing images and video content correctly isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about creating content that works harder for your brand. The next sections will cover changes to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn from Q4 of 2024 into 2025.

Let's begin with Instagram:

Image dimensions on Instagram remain unchanged, but the platform's preferences have evolved. Non-square aspect ratios are increasingly favoured, particularly for Reels, Stories, and Feed content.

Why the shift?

Square photos have been the hallmark of Instagram since its launch, but portrait formats (1080 x 1350 pixels, 4:5 aspect ratio) may deliver better and more engaging performance. This is largely because they take up more vertical screen space, making them visually striking and harder to scroll past.

As social media becomes more mobile-first, content designed with portrait orientations aligns naturally with user behaviour. Both static images and videos in the 4:5 ratio cater to the scrolling habits of modern audiences, who overwhelmingly consume social media via their smartphones.

Back in August 2024, Instagram trialled 4:5 aspect ratio grids. This only affected a handful of business accounts and after a few months, these accounts were reverted back to the original 1:1 grid.

As of January 20th, 2025, we're seeing this grid change rolled out across personal, creator, and business accounts (see image below). The response to this major change has been a mixed bag. For many, it means extra work as graphics built for a square grid may no longer be legible. Though some creators are excited as 4:5 grids mean more digital real estate.

For now, there is an option to adjust profile thumbnails. Watch @melourra's quick instructional video here.

Instagram photo and video dimensions:

• Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels, 16:9/1.91:1 ratio

  • Instagram supports landscape photos, but these typically don’t perform as well as vertical formats due to limited screen real estate.

• Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels, 4:5 ratio

• Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels, 1:1 ratio

• Supported aspect ratios: Between 1.91:1 and 4:5

  • Stories and Reels: 1080 x 1920 pixels (aspect ratio 9:16)

  • Thumbnails: Recommended upload size is 1080 pixels wide

Ultimately, the aspect ratio you choose should align with your product, service, and your audience’s preferences. While studies and analyses about engagement rates for various content types and aspect ratios can provide useful insights, it’s important to focus on what truly works for your brand. Avoid making decisions solely based on trends or claims from individuals and influencers—tailor your approach to your unique audience and goals.

In addition to adjustments in terms of aspect ratio, Instagram has launched two new features that we love so far: 1) trial reels and 2) mixed audio.

Instagram has introduced "Trial Reels," a feature that allows creators to test content with non-followers before sharing it with their existing audience. When you enable the 'Trial' option during the reel creation process, your content is shown exclusively to users who don't follow you. This enables you to assess engagement metrics—such as views, likes, comments, and shares—without impacting your current followers. After 48 hours, you can decide whether to share the reel with your followers based on its performance. 

Hashtags and content discovery:

Instagram is placing greater emphasis on SEO and content relevance over traditional hashtag usage. Notably, the platform has announced plans to remove the ability to follow hashtags, signalling a shift towards algorithm-driven content recommendations.

No, you shouldn't completely abandon hashtags. Instead, think of them as your keywords—they should already include terms relevant to your brand and content. Avoid choosing hashtags purely based on their popularity or post volume; focus on those directly related to your post.

In sum: while Instagram no longer allows users to follow hashtags, they remain an important tool for categorising content and connecting it with the right audience.

Pinterest:

Pinterest continues to prioritise high-quality, vertically oriented images that align with user interests and search behaviours. Though they tend to engage fewer users, you can post videos on Pinterest.

Pinterest image dimensions:

• Profile picture: 165 x 165 pixels, 1:1 ratio

• Standard pins: 1000 x 1500 pixels, 2:3 ratio

Though 2:3 is the preferred aspect ratio, you can create content of virtually any ratio. It all comes down to your audience’s and your own preferences.

Facebook:

Facebook has introduced a "For You" tab, similar to TikTok’s approach, which delivers algorithm-driven content suggestions. This change aims to diversify user engagement by showcasing both personal "Following" content and suggested videos.

Facebook image dimensions:

• Profile picture: 180 x 180 pixels, 1:1 ratio

• Cover photo: 851 x 315 pixels, approx. 2:7 ratio

• Event cover photo: 1200 x 628 pixels, 1.9:2 ratio

• Group cover photo: 1640 x 859 pixels, 1.9:1 ratio

• Shared link images: 1200 x 628 pixels, 1.9:2 ratio

• Stories: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16 ratio

TikTok:

TikTok is experiencing a shift towards longer, educational content, with users engaging more with substantive material. This trend indicates a move away from solely short-form videos, encouraging creators to produce diverse content types to maintain engagement.

We’re seeing this shift across platforms, LinkedIn included, as demand for more authentic and educational content increases again.

Tiktok video dimensions:

Standard videos: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16 ratio

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn still supports various image and video formats, but some trends and recommendations are shaping content performance:

LinkedIn image dimensions:

• Square (1:1): 1080 x 1080 pixels, effective for carousels and standalone posts.

• Landscape (1.91:1): 1200 x 627 pixels, ideal for link previews.

• Portrait (4:5): 1080 x 1350 pixels, gaining traction as it occupies more feed space.

LinkedIn shorts & videos dimensions:

In early 2024, LinkedIn began testing a new short-form video feature similar to TikTok and Instagram Reels. This feature allows users to create and share brief, engaging videos directly on the platform, aiming to enhance content discovery and user engagement.

LinkedIn has not officially announced a full rollout of this feature in 2025. The company continues to evaluate user feedback and engagement metrics to determine its popularity.

For content creators and businesses, this development underscores the growing importance of short-form video content across ALL social media platforms. By adapting to these emerging trends, you can enhance your content strategy and maintain a competitive edge in the evolving social media landscape.

• Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels).

• Duration: 3 seconds to 10 minutes (up to 30 minutes for LinkedIn Live).

LinkedIn performance trends

• LinkedIn favours native content (as do most social media platforms) over external links to boost user engagement.

• Square (1:1) and portrait (4:5) content, similar to Instagram, capture more attention due to their feed presence.

• Consistency in posting and leveraging documents, such as PDFs, for swipeable content boosts visibility.

There are a lot of rumours and guesses as to what is going on with hashtags on LinkedIn currently. Here’s what we can tell you:

The platform is shifting focus from hashtags to enhanced semantic search capabilities. This development means that while hashtags can still help with content discovery, the algorithm now prioritises the overall context and meaning of posts. As a result, the strategic use of concise and relevant hashtags remains beneficial, but the platform's improved understanding of content nuances reduces the necessity for extensive hashtag use. 

A final word of caution for 2025

As we step into a new year of social media innovation and trends, it’s important to approach your content and marketing strategy with a balanced mindset. Avoid making drastic changes solely based on what you see or hear from creator accounts and influencer posts. While influencers and creators can offer valuable insights into emerging trends, their strategies may not align with the unique needs of your brand or audience.

Instead, focus on understanding your audience's preferences, analysing your own performance data, and experimenting thoughtfully with new approaches. Social media is constantly evolving, but the core of an effective strategy remains the same: delivering value, maintaining authenticity, and building meaningful connections with your audience.

Use expert advice and trend analyses as inspiration, but let your brand’s identity and goals drive your decisions. By staying adaptable and grounded in what works for your audience, you’ll position yourself to thrive in the ever-changing social media landscape.

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