Persona non grattan
One of the bigger issues I’ve encountered negotiating the social networked universe is the dreaded profile image. These images are supposed to represent or encapsulate you in such a way that others might recognise or at least be drawn to you, when first seen.
Should it show a simple headshot? You plus a couple of close friends? (seems to be a common approach for female networkers)? Your pet? Favourite TV show character? Icon? …
Which to choose?
I wrestled with this problem setting up my first real profile (as opposed to a fake identity) because personally I hate protraits, particularly of myself. So I used a cropped still from the Logan’s Run TV series (not the film) which shows Logan played by Gregory Harrison operating some kind of machine (I imagined the Social Space Station controls).
A persona-of-a-persona perhaps?
I loved the TV series still secretly coverting a sandman outfit (but who wouldn’t?). But the time has come to drop the pop culture façade for something a little more relevant.
So here it is the new image (sort of):
As most profiles require square images (except for MySpace), I turned this into a headshot and the sharp black-and-white contrast is really good for small avatars (like those used at Twitter). Check the Website to see how it looks.
Any good?
The new image may look a little abstract but I think it retains some characteristics of me. Afterall, the image is supposed to represent the owner in someway, and even though taste in pop culture may count for something, it may not convey enough information.
Alas, now that I’ve selected something, I have to replace all the profile images for all the social networking sites that I belong to (see the description sidebar for some of these). What a hassle!
I mean even if profile data can’t be seamlessly moved between sites, at least a single image could be referenced for use on all of them.
How hard could that be?
