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Facebook will let you add a lightsaber to your profile picture this week

Facebook will let you add a lightsaber to your profile picture this week

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The only force more unstoppable than the Force is Star Wars' marketing machine, which, like the universe itself, is continually expanding to places beyond our comprehension. Star Wars is rightfully everywhere this week, and that includes on Facebook, which will now let you add a lightsaber overtop of your profile picture to get you in the mood for the new movie. You can choose between totally-evil red and obviously Luke's blue. Facebook's tool lets you position the lightsaber in different places around your photo, but as you can see in my quick attempt above, finding the right photo is not as easy as it sounds.

Facebook started testing the ability to temporarily change your profile picture in September, and has since rolled the feature out widely. Though it had originally been discussed as a way to show support for causes that were big at a given moment, the addition of temporary lightsabers today makes it clear that this could be a big advertising tool for Facebook, too. In addition to causes, Facebook also has permanent options for putting sports team logos over your picture. It's not stated whether the Star Wars promos will stick around, but it'd make sense: hype for The Force Awakens may be gone in a few weeks, but there'll always be another Star Wars next year.

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