Avatars in Social Media: Value or Risk?

Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am

Since starting this blog, I’ve joined several social networking sites. Some for bloggers, some for bookmarking, and some for “twittering.” Most of these sites allow you to upload an avatar, usually a 90×90 image you can use to represent yourself.

I used to be really paranoid about putting my picture anywhere online, except for Facebook where I have complete control over privacy settings. I always used a little blonde Simpsons-style avatar. But now I’m attaching my real name to my blog, and I want to establish my web presence across all the different social media sites. So I uploaded a real picture of me taken last week to all the different sites. It also appears on U Stand Out whenever I make a comment.

Still, I question whether or not it’s a risk to have my real picture up there. On one hand, the thumbnail is so teeny tiny it couldn’t possibly make that much of a difference. Then again, it will display every time I make a comment, and since I’m looking for big traffic numbers, I’ll lose that privacy of identity, and there’s no going back. But here’s why I decided to stick with my real image.

People can relate better to a human face

When browsing blog comments and sites like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog, I saw that it’s about a 30/30/30 ratio. A third of people display their real photo, a third have a random graphic that means something to them, and a third use the standard community avatar. And some blogs don’t allow for avatars at all.

In this ocean of avatars and blank boxes, your comments stand out if there’s a face to go with the name. People will be able to relate to you more, be more likely listen to you, and more likely to take you seriously. They’ll also be more inclined to reply to your comment or click on the link to your website if they become curious about who you are. So simply having a friendly icon can generate traffic and make you a more active member of the blogging community. And as Chris Brogan demonstrates at his blog, people have more of an emotional connection to avatar images.

You become recognized

Having an icon helps to brand yourself. It’s a part of your online persona, and it’s best to use the same imageon every networking site that you associate with your blog, professional identity, or whatever it is you’re trying to promote. And since my blog topic is also my profession, I figure this will be useful. Gravatar makes having a universal icon really easy; you basically attach an icon to your email address. So every time you post a comment on someone’s blog with that email address, that icon you selected will automatically appear next to your comment.

Once you start posting in communities, people will start to recognize you. They’ll start to trust you, and want to interact with you more. Stephan Spencer talks about this in his blog post, Avatar Importance. It makes it m

ore difficult to gain traction in your network if you don’t attach an image to yourself.

You might want to make a distinction between sites where you use your real name, and one where you use a screen name. If there’s a site that you don’t want connected to your blog or name, like that Harry Potter fanfiction site you’re secretly a member of, you might want to use a graphic that represents you instead or your picture. And no, I’m not a member of a Harry Potter fanfiction site. Anymore. (Hey, there was big gap between the 5th and 6th books…).

You could be considered more trustworthy

Spam accounts usually don’t have icons, so whenever I see a blank icon or generic community icon, I question what’s behind the comment rather than who’s behind the comment. Unless it’s a really in-depth or insightful comment. Still, I tend to trust users on social networking and bookmarking sites when they have a graphic attached to their comments, and I want to be trusted the same way. I also don’t like spam, or “shameless self-promotion.” I would rather get visitors who are genuinely interested in social media, will be active commentors, and will come back when I publish new posts, than people who will come to the site, click around for 5 seconds, and never come back.

Reasons to be wary

Crazy people, stalkers, being recognized (if traffic ever gets big, who knows?), etc. I don’t need to add any more drama to my life. I also second guessed displaying my photo because I’m trying to promote my blog’s content, not myself as a person. And mainly, I’ll lose my anonymity. Then again, since this is a “professional” blog, I think that’s ok, and my name’s already connected to this blog so just doing a quick Google search of me will bring up pictures.

Reasons to be wary of other icons

There’s an issues out there called link baiting. Apparently, it’s not too uncommon for people to go on sites like Flickr, find an attractive photo of a stranger, and claim it for the fake identity they’ve created. This strategy is used to gain more traffic, because it’s thought that humans are more inclined to interact with pretty people. Disturbing, right? Sometimes, it’s previous obvious when an icon is a fake. For example, if you’re a bikini-clad girl or a topless guy in your blog icon, I’m not going to take you very seriously. And if your blog gets big, and you use a picture of a stranger that looks legit, someone is bound to find a real picture of you or recognize the person in the image as being someone they know. And it will get out.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinions. Why do you use your real image, a graphic that represents you, or nothing at all?

Tagged with: Blogging • Networking • privacy • Social Media • Social Networks

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Make Money Online

I still think its a value..!

<abbr>Make Money Online’s last blog post..Top 10 Facebook Games Of The Year</abbr>

Cheap Mobile Calls

I think people do relate to avatars online, but for them to bring traffic? I'm not too sure. Like Erwin said above, uploading a model's picture got him traffic, but probably not the right kind of traffic. I think offering great content is what pulls the people in, not your face.

drivelocity

Here's another way you could think about it - What would you do if you were asked to do a TV interview or have a feature article in magazine and they wanted a picture of you. Would you turn that down? If not, then what's the harm in a photo avatar?

<abbr>drivelocity’s last blog post..Handcrafted Wooden USB Drives</abbr>

Shanker Bakshi

I spread myself throughout the blogsphere and in all social media sites with the avatar you see here with comments. whatever you decide but one should make sure that it should be adopted for all your profiles. that will give you a face associated with your persona.

<abbr>Shanker Bakshi’s last blog post..Google is Dead Here is Another Unexploited Goldmine</abbr>

SBA

I use a spider image that's part of my web design business logo. I've thought about using a real photo, but I don't like any of them --- much better looking in person (lol) Also I think the image is distinctive/recognizable on social media networks. But a real photo might be appreciated on my blog's About page for the reasons in your post.

<abbr>SBA’s last blog post..Does Your Blog Need More Luv From Readers?</abbr>

Wakish

I think if you have choosed to 'work' on the net and if you think blogging is your choice, then you should be firm. We have big examples from high profile bloggers like Darren Rowse, Shoemoney, Spencers or John Chow. They all blog with their real names and are working at their best.

As in any fields, there are always ups and downs, lovers and haters, I will say that you should just do what you want to do convincingly and forget those who want to stop you. Just focuss on your aim, on the positive sides and on people who love you.

Yours,
- Wakish -

<abbr>Wakish’s last blog post..Don’t Snatch Your Own Success Talented Friends / If You Haven’t Got Time To Do It Right, You Don’t Have Time To Do it Wrong Either!</abbr>

Mike Collins

I think using pics of attractive people does help in getting attention, but its probably not the attention you're looking for. I don't know if I can find it but I remember awhile back reading a blog post where someone ran a test with his ebay auctions. On some of them he used an image of a sexy woman in a bikini and in others he simply used an image of the digital product he was selling. The bikini auctions got many, many more views but almost no sales. The simple image of the product didn't get anywhere near the same number of views but made more sales.

Atif

That was a very interesting post. I added my picture as my avatar last week.

Intrepid

Nice observations. I enjoyed reading this article. I guess I'm guilty of doing two out of the three... Using an Avatar and using an image.

Stanley!

What if you split the difference between anonymity and human interaction, using a human face that's not your own? Nothing too deceptive (Erwin, it sounds like you were getting attention for all the wrong reasons), just a generic looking person of the same gender as yourself.

Diana Freedman

Interesting idea. The main reasons I wouldn't do this:
1. Someone can find a real picture of you online, especially if your blog becomes really popular and people get curious about you.
2. Someone coincidentally knows the person whose face you're using, and knows that you're not that person.

Losing your readers' trust can mean losing those readers altogether. I don't frown upon people that do it, I just think it might eventually have negative repercussions. I'd rather use a graphic icon, cartoon character, movie character in costume that's obviously not you, etc. than try to pass someone else as me.

Erwin Tan

I still remember the days which I upload some pretty model's pic and boy.. that really brought me lots of traffic..

Not sure if it's right to call that "targeted" traffic? haha

Diana Freedman

So you're one of those reason to be wary! Ha. But that is interesting that it noticeably brought you a lot of traffic.

vicki

Thanks! I enjoyed reading this

Mike Witt

Excellent post and topic. Some might depend on a person's overall marketing plan and strategy, but in my opinion branding is key and to do that people need to know who you are. A real picture is a great way to connect with your readers and followers, showing them that there is a real person behind the words.

There may be a little risk, but so far, in my experience, it's mostly email spam, although I did see a few footprints in the snow outside my house this morning that I didn't recognize, oops, those were mine :-)

Great post, hopefully people can see the value in showing who they are and providing a better connection with their customers.

Mike Witt
www.WorkFromHomeSmart.com

Avatars in Social Media: Value or Risk?

People can relate better to a human face

You become recognized

You could be considered more trustworthy

Reasons to be wary

Reasons to be wary of other icons

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