You’ve heard the saying “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover”, but the truth is you really CAN. If I see a book with the title “Ravenous Love Affair” with a picture of a Fabio lookalike feeding strawberries to a desperate housewife, I know that’s not the book for me. I have no interest in romance novels so I don’t even need to pick it up. Although I might be pleasantly surprised by the superb writing and nail biting story line, I will never know because I wont touch it.
This same type of prejudgment occurs when confirming my Facebook friends. A picture is worth a thousand words. You may be unaware of this fact, but your profile picture speaks to your friends and gives them an insight into who you are. Below you will find a list of profile pics that persuade me to ignore, block and delete Facebook friends.
No Profile Picture
No photo or as I like to call it, the white Facebook shadow should always be avoided. It was brought to my attention that several individuals with no photo and limited profile information are actually hackers and spread computer viruses. No profile photo is a potential threat to my computer. I prefer to add those who have photos of their children, favorite books, movies, animals, etc. rather than no photo at all.
The Fake Profile Picture
I really don’t like it when people have pictures of other people as their profile picture. I’m not talking about photos of celebrities. Some people take photos of other people and try to pass them off as themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve see profiles with the same photo or stumbled upon these generic pictures in google images. This type of behavior is deceitful. If I can’t trust you to be honest about who you are…I can’t trust anything you say.
Inappropriate Profile Pictures
This is pretty self explanatory, but everyone has a different opinion about the boundaries of inappropriateness. Half naked photos and images of you passed out with a bottle of Tequila in your hands isn’t professional. If you use Facebook to promote your business and network with other professionals, you should consider creating a separate page if yours is a little to racy for the business world.
In the end, I like to see who I’m talking to. It’s hard enough to form a connection with someone you’ve never met. A poor profile picture or lack there of will only widen the disconnect. Select your profile pictures wisely and let your friends see who you really are =)