Avatars what you should know part 1

 

I decided that something needs to be said about avatars. You know those cute little images we all place on our social media profiles that appear in our update stream like tiny icons. These more than any other device represent us and are our moniker to the social networking world. They are in effect a solidification of our personal brand and are by their very nature extremely subjective. Without a good avatar you will not likely garner the attention of someone who has a large let alone huge update stream.

• So what makes a good avatar?
• How often should you change it?
• Full body vs face vs cuddly animal vs freaky doll?
• Animated or still?

The truth is that the picture you choose is as important as the name on your account and in many cases it is even more important because on a small screen hand held device that picture will increase you recognition factor by an order of magnitude. This is because and let’s be honest we humans are an extremely visually queued bunch. Sociologically this may be a survival instinctual kind of thing pointing back to our primal roots. While out foraging we were always on the look out for predators because there is just no sense getting eaten before lunch.

I’ve interviewed thousands of people or well posed the question to thousands and the visual icon is the first key the majority of them tune into on a status stream. Some weird ones noted the user’s id was first but we are talking less than 10% of those polled most said that they only use the user id as a backup to ensure that the avatar matches the correct user. In a busy stream that icon is what many will pickup during a quick scan and it is that moment of instant recognition that makes the decision to read an update or not.

For most people a clear shot of their face is the best choice and for others it may be a funny T-shirt pose. What even more confusing about avatars is that what works for one person may not work so well for another. However one hard fast rule I always measure a new icon by is when it is shrunk down to be squeezed onto a hand held devices display is it still recognizable? Choose a bad avatar though and you’ll likely hear about it from you friends. That being said groups shots or head shots at a distance with other people in the background tend to make the worst avatars second to that are full body pictures.

Of course this is not always the case and sometimes just sometimes the worst picture magickally becomes the right one. Yes sometimes a picture that is so bad and i mean bordering on the edge of horrible is actually perfect. What I am saying is that it’s very unrecognizability actually works to it own benefit because it is completely distinguished from all other icons in the stream. This is key because that is the true goal of your avatar in the first place to be instantly recognized so your friends read what you have to say.

The follow images courtesy of Wikipedia is similar to one many of use would use as a profile picture that also happens to make a pretty decent avatar.

Profile Size	Mini Avatar Size

Of course what you choose to be your icon is as important as where you intend to use it. Remember a freaky doll or bloody Halloween costume may not be the best image to portray if you are searching for a new job as a corporate banking executive. If however you are an aspiring horror film director or makeup artist then it is absolutely acceptable. Be that as it may; It is also wise to consider different avatars for different media. I would recommend a professional looking icon for a site like LinkedIn over a humorous gag avatar that you might consider for your Facebook page. In either case take some time and consider your venue before posting that college photo of you streaking through the quad as it might not be the right image you want to portray. On the other hand if you are trying to make it in life as a stand up comedian perhaps it is the appropriate message for your audience.

Now that you understand how to choose a picture that best represents you take some time to look through your status stream at what others have used. Decide for yourself what works and what should better be left in the waste basket. Try to pinpoint the ones that consistently pop out to you and try to figure out what makes them good.

In the next article we will discuss how often you should update you avatar.

Until then…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mikel King has been a leader in the Information Technology Services field for over 20 years. He is currently the CEO of Olivent Technologies, a professional creative services partnership in NY. Additionally he is currently serving as the Secretary of the BSD Certification group as well as a Senior Editor for the BSD News Network and JAFDIP.

 

 

 

Related articles

• Create your own BBM avatar (bbgeeks.com)
• What is Avatar in Virtual world? (tsegay2belgium.wordpress.com)
• FaceBook Avatars Change (serenitysigns.wordpress.com)