{"id":800,"date":"2011-03-01T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.renando.com\/blog\/?p=800"},"modified":"2015-02-15T19:07:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T19:07:29","slug":"an-avatar-analysis-choosing-your-profile-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/an-avatar-analysis-choosing-your-profile-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"An avatar analysis: Choosing your profile picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was recently asked the question about my profile picture: “why a cartoon?” My response takes me on a journey through options not chosen and an analysis of the choices of others.<\/p>\n

\"Choose<\/p>\n

The value of a picture<\/h2>\n

In the digital space, we do not have the luxury of forming an opinion based on body language, tonality, or other non-verbal forms of visual communication.\u00a0 I paint a picture of who you are based on 1) what you write<\/strong> in your blogs, your Facebook and Twitter posts and comments, your LinkedIn profile, and sites your recommend.\u00a0 I also infer your characteristics from 2) other\u2019s comments about you<\/strong>, their recommendations in professional forums, and what kind of people pass on your comments.\u00a0 Finally, my opinions are formed from 3) people you associate with<\/strong>, including Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or LinkedIn connections.<\/p>\n

Relying on these textual depictions, the only graphical image I have of you is the one I create in my mind\u2019s eye.\u00a0 That is, of course, until you provide me with a profile picture.\u00a0 This seemingly small piece of illustrative information removes my need for imagination and provides a crucial link between my depiction of you and the identity you hold for yourself.<\/p>\n

How to choose your profile picture<\/h2>\n

The decision-making priocess for your profile picture is the topic of advice<\/a>, interviews<\/a>, and psychological study<\/a>.\u00a0 Many do not understand or care about the gravity of the pictorial personae, while others embrace the opportunity for strategic expression with open arms.\u00a0\u00a0 Some break your options down to over 30<\/a>, others 10<\/a>, some focus on a profession like CIOs<\/a>, some focus on an application such as dating sites<\/a>, and others are gender specific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to clarify whilst adding to the noise, I consolidate your options into five broad catagories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The real deal<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nThe confident head and shoulders photo, with a practiced smile.\u00a0 I recommend this as your only option<\/a> for a LinkedIn profile<\/a>.\u00a0 You are saying \u201cThis is who I am, like it or… well, just please like it.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The action shot<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nYou are saying: \u201cI am fun, a traveller, playful, crazy, and\/or sporty.\u00a0 I live life and want you to know it.\u201d\u00a0 Some words of warning: unless you work in entertainment or the adult beverage industries, evidence of alcoholic overindulgence is risky for the corporate career climbers.\u00a0 Clothes are always mandatory, and your middle finger is not one half of a peace sign.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The family photo<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nThese people are a significant part of your life.\u00a0 You want to share your bond.\u00a0 We appreciate that you are happy, and respect your sentiment.\u00a0 Your single friends may get depressed every time they see your photo, but that\u2019s OK.\u00a0 People learn to live with envy every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The metaphor <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nYou are a comic book character, a landscape, a vehicle, or a building.\u00a0 Something you want to be, somewhere you were or want to be, or something you feel represents who you are or something you think is funny. Basically, anything not you that will still tell me something about you.\u00a0 What that is, I am going to have to guess.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you clever.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The representation<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nIt\u2019s you, just viewed differently.\u00a0 Includes a cartoon of you, you as a kid, an artistic sketch, a close up of a body part, or some obscure profile of your head.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that you are hiding or are compensating for insecurities.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that… well… you know it\u2019s not that other thing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Augmenting – The statement<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"The<\/td>\nA modification of any of the above for a cause.\u00a0 A symbol on some part of your picture (aka twibbon<\/a>), a coloured border, or change your picture altogether.\u00a0 As I noted with the recent Facebook cartoon meme<\/a>, this is usually as much about you feeling good about who you are as it is about raising awareness.\u00a0 The connection between viewing your picture and me taking a call to action is tenuous at best.\u00a0 Also, don\u2019t forget to change your picture back after the campaign, else we think you both passionate and lazy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What I use, why, and when<\/h2>\n

Theresa<\/a> created a cartoon image of me some time ago, which I use for my Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, blog, and Skype profile pictures and most online forums.\u00a0 The picture captures my slight smirk and the cartoon represents the facade we all maintain in the digital space.\u00a0 I initially did it as an intentional statement about online identity being artificial compared to actual identity. \u00a0Not that anyone got that.<\/p>\n

Since then, I have maintained the cartoon to keep me from taking myself too seriously.\u00a0 In my line of work, I come across many \u201cgurus\u201d and \u201cthought leaders\u201d making a name for themselves in the digital space.\u00a0 I occasionally catch myself at risk of getting serious about professional personal brand management, to which my profile picture offers me a reality check.<\/p>\n

My LinkedIn account<\/a>, however, is the real deal.\u00a0 In contrast to most of my Facebook and Twitter friends and followers, I engage with my LinkedIn connections in some form of the commercial mandate.\u00a0 I play it straight based on the assumptions that there are a few who may not wish to trust their profit margins to a cartoon.<\/p>\n

I also keep my profile picture fairly consistent.\u00a0 Once you get past a few hundred friends or people you follow, keeping up to date across the channels is an exercise in scanning.\u00a0 When someone changes their profile picture, I have to relearn to associate the picture with who they are.\u00a0 I appreciate creativity, but it messes with my social media mojo.\u00a0 I resist the urge for change based on a suspicion others may feel the same.<\/p>\n

What others (I know) use<\/h2>\n

A complete analysis of what type of profile everyone in the world is using is beyond my capabilities or commitment to the cause.\u00a0 I can, however, take a quick peek at my 91 LinkedIn connections, my 275 Facebook friends, and the 216 people I follow on Twitter.\u00a0 I will pre-empt the results with the acknowledgement that it was somewhat subjective, in that there can be some mixing of family and action shots (eg., the beach wedding scene), and there is some blurring between metaphor and representation (is that your eyeball closeup of someone else\u2019s?).<\/p>\n

\"Profile_by_type_large\"<\/p>\n

The Real Deal<\/strong> is split evenly between the channels, due likely to it being the least risk for the average user.\u00a0 The Action Shot<\/strong> and The Family Photo<\/strong> are dominant in Facebook, likely due to the inherent personal community aspect of the medium.\u00a0 The Metaphor<\/strong> results are skewed in Twitter due to the pervasiveness of commercial participation, polluting the results with logos.\u00a0 The Representation<\/strong> is evenly split between Facebook and Twitter, which can be viewed as a need to either express creativity or hide behind a facade, depending upon your perspective.<\/p>\n

Augmentation<\/strong> for a cause was almost non-existent, with one instance in Twitter.\u00a0 Among the many conclusions we can come up with, this could mean I follow self-adsorbed people, most people in social media are self-adsorbed, or modifying your profile picture for a cause is not that pervasive.\u00a0 Finally, LinkedIn reflected the most users without a profile picture<\/strong>, perhaps due to the greater significance of representing yourself professionally.\u00a0 Twitter followed next, although many with no picture had abandoned accounts and Twitter has in the past periodically deleted profile pictures.\u00a0 A lack of profile picture in Facebook is more noticeable and perhaps easier to update, hence the greater propensity of users with a picture in the channel.<\/p>\n

\"Profile_by_channel_large\"<\/p>\n

Viewing the penetration of profile picture types within each channel, Twitter<\/strong> is dominated by The Real Deal and The Metaphor.\u00a0 Facebook<\/strong> is evenly distributed across the profile types, with slightly less representation of the metaphor due to the personal nature of the community.\u00a0 LinkedIn is almost exclusively The Real Deal, for those who have a profile picture.<\/p>\n

So where do you fit? And why? Your profile picture is an important piece of your \u201cpersonal digital brand identity\u201d.\u00a0 How much that matters in the big scheme of things is a topic for another post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was recently asked the question about my profile picture: “why a cartoon?” My response takes me on a journey through options not chosen and… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193,3],"tags":[39,48,69,84,120,138],"ecosystem_role":[],"class_list":["post-800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-innovation-ecosystems","category-about-me","tag-digital-marketing","tag-facebook","tag-identity","tag-linkedin","tag-social-media","tag-twitter","bwp-masonry-item","bwp-col-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7111,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions\/7111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"ecosystem_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ecosystem_role?post=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}