I had this idea as I was looking at comments and who was leaving them. I notice pattern in the profiles, so I thought I would share with everyone here. I noticed that members without profile pictures, for the most part behave different. This behavior was small and may not be notice by everyone. But now that you are reading about it you'll see it everywhere. Members with the basic avatar profile picture act distant and detached. Meaning, they do not engage the same way as people with a real picture of them on their profile.
Well you may say, what does this matter and why even bring this to anyones attention? I guess sometimes I cannot help myself as I am a student of Human Thinking and Behavior Psychology. When I see anomalies in human behavior they stick out like a sore thumb to me. Believe me it isn't always fun to analyze what people are doing. Most times people don't want to be observed in this manner, let alone have someone expose them. It makes us feel vulnerable... Of course the purpose of this article is not to harm or shame, it is to help.
So how can this article help you do better as an author an content creator? Let's See... This site is creating an experience where content creators and content seekers merge. When this union occurs a level of trust is established, which starts a relationship. This is a simple relationship between readers and producer's, but a relationship never-the-less. A handshake if you will. Now during this handshake the content seeker gets to know the author and their content. During this initial introduction the person reading the article wants to trust it. They want to feel that the author knows what he or she is writing about. This is normal...
When I'm reading an article even if it's good I am still apprehensive, if the author doesn't have a profile picture. I almost feel as if the content author is trying to hide from me. My auto response is to trust the author and the article less. My brain begins to give the content author a credibility rating. This is all happening in the back of my mind. If the credibility rating decreases I am less interested in the author's work. If I see a profile picture and not the default avatar image my brain says trust and the credibility rating goes up.
I'm sure this isn't just happening to me. Unconsciously humans are looking for things they trust and distrust in other people. My brain picks up the humans picture as trust and default avatar of distrust. This does not mean that the person who has not yet uploaded a picture of themselves is untrustworthy. But, if this subtlety is there for me it's likely there for others who are reading author's content. So ask yourself do you want people to trust you more or less? I personally want people to trust me and my work as much as possible.
What's my point? My point is that, not having a profile picture of you can be harming your brand. And this in turn could be hurting your chances of a greater ROI. See, each article you produce is an investment by you. It's your product. You are selling this product to the readers of this platform and even people doing a general search. The readers look at your product and wants to trust it, and trust you. But your store sign looks shady and does not match the image you are trying to portray.
Your storefront is your profile image and bio. Your stores products are your articles and other content creations. If you are not making as much money as you would like here, you may want to assess how you are presenting yourself. Are you presenting yourself as a trustworthy brand? Put my idea to the test by placing a picture of you in your profile and writing something interesting in your bio. See if people start paying more attention to you and your work. Track your ROI to see if your income and trust factor increases. Let me know in the comments if this information helped to increase your subscribers rate, etc.
By Michaelson Williams, TSX
To some extent