Should You Use a Photo as your Twitter Picture?
Everyone seems to be on Twitter these days. Or on Plurk. Or Gravatar. Or MyBlogLog. Or Digg. Or Votetime. Or one of the million other social sites out there.
And all of those sites use an image on your profile. But what sort of image works best?
A photo of yourself? Or your logo? Or just a cool design?
Why Use A Photo?
- Much more personal. The idea behind sites like Twitter and Gravatar is to get closer to your readers; to form bonds and have a regular conversation with them. Using your photo is the easiest step towards making things more friendly, and simply put, more human.
- Anyone can do it. Not everyone is a designer, or has the money to hire one. But anyone can pull out a camera, snap a photo and upload it. If you don't think your logo is really up for it, then don't worry, you're in the same boat as most people! Use your photo instead.
- Stand out as an individual in a team of bloggers. A lot of blogs now have multiple authors, or don't highlight their writers very well. If you work as part of a team, it could be good to get a little individualism with your own photo, not the company logo.
Alternatively, Adelle Charles from Fuel Your Creativity has a great solution. She uses her photo as the main image, but still has a tiny logo in the bottom right.
If you do use a photo, it's probably a good idea to have the same photo on your site (Well, a slightly larger version!). It highlights the link between your blog and your social profiles. You want people to know who you are.
Why Use a Logo or a Unique Design?
- More room to be creative. Photos of yourself don't usually stand out from the crowd much. It's hard to be ground breakingly creative with a mugshot. A few million MySpace users have tried, but the results weren't always the best.
A design can be whatever you want. And a great design is going to catch a lot more eyes and be more easily remembered the next time its seen.
- Branding for you and your site. If someone visits your site and sees your logo, and then winds up on your Digg profile a few days later and sees the same logo, they're going to make the connection. Or vice verse! And if they liked your blog, they'll probably add you as a friend then.
- Photos can be hard to recognize. Twitter images are small! I've seen some photos so many times now that I'd know them instantly, but if I've only seen an image once or twice, it takes a little longer to stick for me. And the poses in some photos can make it even harder.
- Appearance changes over time. Imagine you use the same photo everywhere for a year. It's going to be pretty well known in your circle after that year. But do you still look that way? No? Well, when you update your photo, are people going to get confused? Will the ones that just about know you get lost altogether?
- Can be very easy to do! I said above that taking a photo was easy, and it is. But if your blog already has a nice logo, it's even easier than having to get the camera out!
My Conclusion
My conclusion is that, like most things blogging, it comes down to your own opinion. Personally, I just don't like seeing my own photo very much! I don't have one on the site anymore, and I can't think of any I'd like to see on other sites, so I'm sticking to my logo.
Photos don't make things any more interesting to me. I'm just as happy to see a bunny-eared anime girl, as a real person. The important bit is that I see the same bunny-eared anime girl each time, so I know who the person is.
A creative image might get a few more people to view your profile, but a friendly face might add some character to your words.
Which do you use, and why do you do it that way?
PS - As a last note, check out the just-launched Just Tweet It. It's a directory for finding other Twitterers (And adding yourself to!).
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About the Author - Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies. Written on 7th October 2008.
Other posts tagged with Avatars, Gravatars, Photography, Social Media, Twitter.
30th October, 5:27 pm GMT
Honestly, does it really matter?!
Isn't the beauty of social networking, well, networking? If someone wants to use a photo of him/her self, kids, dog, cat, a logo, icon or symbol -- then let them.
I started out using my logo as an avatar and after being a voyeur and minimalist, I decided to jump in. Changed by avatar to a photo (recently done professionally by my hubby the photog in a studio setting) would better suit my reasons for participating -- so I could network MYSELF / MY COMPANY / MY WORK.
I do like Adell Charles avatar and believe it to be a great solution and presentation.
3rd November, 12:30 am GMT
I agree that a photo is more personal, I use a photo of myself for twitter, but a site logo for places like socialspark or forums.
3rd November, 12:33 am GMT
I do follow well designed logos as an avatars. I am still working on a good logo for my social movement : http://twitter.com/cureworlddream. For my personal account http://twitter.com/dreamreaper I will prefer something with character. One will a great smile does helps I guess.
18th November, 10:40 pm GMT
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14th December, 7:31 am GMT
This is great blog. Thanks for bringing it up.
I submit articles on ehow and initially, I had just a MEEZE for both twitter and ehow. It was a cute avatar and after using it a few months, I was afraid to change it. For one thing what if the photo turned out to be a negative? I thought the avatar was easy to find in the walls of photo faces!. People seemed to like my avatar.
After I changed from cartoon meeze to face photo, there was a very positive reaction. I know for myself it is nice to "see" who I am talking to. I don't know that it increased readership. It might have sparked in my self a little letting down a little of a wall for people, which allowed for more warmth in postings.
I do agree that there is a problem with the changes over time. But I guess that I will handle that as it happens.
There is also the positive aspect that you pf changes. For instance on twitter, Lynne Mosher inspired me to use a photo of me in a Santa hat for holidays. Not only did it spark up on twitter but it was well recieved on ehow forums! The best side effect was that it perked up my holiday spirit some!
Thanks for great topic. AND I think it is awesome that you do follows!
14th December, 2:31 pm GMT
Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear back from someone whose actuall made the change from one to the other!
What you said about letting down a wall would probably ring true with me as well. There's quite a bit about myself that I just don't put online. There's no real reason not to; it's just that there's no real reason *to* do it either.
But if being a bit more open worked so well for you, I suppose it's at least worth trying. Never know how it might turn out..... hmmmm. Got some thinking to do it seems!
18th December, 9:15 pm GMT
I don't see why you can't do both. Have a personal Twitter account where you use your photo and have a Business Twitter account where you use your company logo. I think that's a much better way and helps to make the line between work and life much clearer.
19th December, 2:55 pm GMT
That would work, yep. And by all means, if you use 2 accounts, that sounds like a great plan to me.
But not everyone uses 2 Twitter accounts (Twice as much time on Twitter?
). I use just the one account, and merge it as both business and personal. I don't think it would be possible to run a successful blog without some degree of personality slipping in there anyway, so it makes sense enough for bloggers at least to stick to 1 account I think. 
20th January, 10:27 am GMT
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