I’m now at my 62’nd day as an active twitter, and have recently passed 2000 followers – which is kinda cool. But – one thing I have noticed on my quest to find interesting people to follow, I usually “judge” the people by their avatar. A lot of people does not seem to have put a lot of effort into the avatar. Which amazes me. I mean – Your avatar is a window into your soul – and portraits who you are as a person. It’s your online persona. Therefore it is important to have an avatar that doesn’t look like you shot it with a camera phone while you were drunk, but instead have a simple headshot, straight-up, without any clutter, trying to tell your life-story with as much visual elements as possible. This is just noise.
Instead think of the avatar as your business card which gives you a window of opportunity to meet new and interesting people. A window – 48 by 48 pixels, that represents who you are, and that is trying to sell you as a person or a company. It makes you more human, more approachable, more inviting, and makes me want to listen to what you say.
(If you’re smart you’ll upload a large photo, so that people can click on it and and zoom in and see the true charm, smartness and beauty of you)
I think I have browsed through thousands of people, and have probably jumped over a lot of interesting people – simply because their avatar was boring, plain, of a pet, or just telling me – nothing. The first impression rule abides here, tweeps.
And to you guys that don’t have an avatar at all – that just have the standard brown box with the o_O – which in plane words tells me you don’t take the time nor grasp the concept of twitter, basically gives a sh**! By not having an avatar tells me that your not a person I need to follow. You don’t care, so why should I?
Make the best out of it. Put some effort into having an avatar that works for you, and portraits you as a person. If you are on more than one social media platform, I advice you to have the same avatar everywhere, so that the people you encounter, recognizes you and want to be your friend.
That’s what the Social Media is all about.
To make new friends, meet new and interesting people.
So give me a reason to want to know more about you. Lets get introduced. It all starts with a good avatar.
//arnt
