Photo related to your political or sporting beliefs

What does your profile picture say about you?

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Whether it’s a photo of you on a night out or of you with your newborn baby, the image you choose to represent you on social networking sites says a lot about you.

Profile pictures on Facebook and similar sites are the visualprojection to friends and family of who you are and what you are like. On Twitter, where people follow both friends and strangers, profile pictures are smaller and perhaps more significant. They are often the first and only visual introduction people have to each other. So what does your profile photo say about you? According to communications consultant Terry Prone, there are 12 categories that cover most types of profile pictures.

The professionally taken photo

You are using social media for purely business or career purposes. You want people to see you as an “ executive ” or, as Prone says, “Role first, relationship second.”

Photo with your baby or child

Highlighting a sense of achievement and generally more interested in a response from women than from men.

Photo with a partner

You view your other half as the most important thing in your life, and yourself as one half of a duo. “They want to be seen with them and are visually introducing them, ” Prone says.

Photo taken on a night out

Generally younger, carefree, wanting to project an image of being fun and popular.

Childhood picture

Wasn’t everything better back in the day? Using a childhood photo shows something of a reluctance to grow up and face the future. Heavy on nostalgia and sentiment, it’s also a bit of fun.

Caricature

“It’s kinder to play with one’s own image than someone else’s, ” Prone says. Using a caricature is a way of saying that your image isn’t rigid and that you don’t take yourself too seriously. Choosing a caricature can also be perceived as a form of distancing: you’re uploading a representation of yourself instead of an actual picture of yourself.

Photo related to your name, but not actually you (a shop sign, or product label for example)

You want to be identifiable, yet you feel your name more important than your image. A behind-the-scenes type of person who isn’t overly comfortable with being too showy.

Photo related to your political or sporting beliefs

You associate what you’re interested in as intrinsic or even more important than who you are. Your beliefs and interests outweigh your personality. “Be careful of this, ” Prone warns, “because who knows what in the future will be regarded as a negative emblematic representation.”