At Ohio State University they have concluded thatThe photo that we use in the Facebook profile is all that another user needs to form an impression of us. That is, the words with which it is described or the messages it publishes are not taken into account when assessing how a person is on social networks, explains Brandon Van Der Heide in the magazineJournal of Communication. In their experiments they found, among other things, that if a person uses a photograph as a profile image socializing with friends, even if they write on the social network that they are an “introverted” individual, or that they “feel happier locked up in their habituation with a book “, those who visit your profile identify and describe you as an extrovert. Only if the photo is out of “normal” or the first impression it offers is negative, users decide to read the text before judging the person in the profile, and give more weight to the words than to the image.
The key, according to Van Der Heide, is thatpeople have expectations about the photos they see on social media. “If the profile photo matches what is expected, they do not look for other information; but if the photo is out of the ordinary, they will read the accompanying text and the messages on the wall before forming a first impression,” concludes the investigator.
According to another study released in InternationalJournal of Psychology, while lProfile photos of Americans and Westerners tend to show the individual’s faceBy showing a close-up, Asian users get used to posting photos with a general shot that includes details of the environment, objects (vehicles, etc.) or elements of the landscape.
