No Photo Available or Why You Need a Good Photo On Your Profile

Face it, humans are visual creatures. From time we are born, we seek to focus on another human face. As we get older, we also seek to avoid the camera at all costs! However, one of the most important elements of a person's social media profile is a photo. And yet, one of the elements that is missing from their profile is a photo.

All of the sites stress the importance of a photo—LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and dating sites encourage the user to upload photos. For better or worse, people want to see what the person at the other end of their communications looks like.

As a photographer, I have done promo head shots for professionals and completely understand their reluctance to get in front of the camera. It's not my favorite place to be either. But I know from personal experience that a photo is a necessity.

For a long time, I had a photo that was taken of me while I was on a photo shoot. It is a cute, funny photo that illustrated what I was doing at the time I started my LinkedIn profile, which was working full-time promoting my equine photography business. However, as I wound down the business and I started focusing on my career in marketing, the photo became less relevant. I wasn't connecting with other communications professionals and I really believe the photo was part of the reason. Finally, I broke down and made an appointment at a photo studio and had my own headshot done. Was it fun? Not really! Did I do some Photoshopping to the image? You bet I did! However, it has resulted in more connections and I believe the new photo is part of the reason. You can see the new photo on my profile here on my blog. Will I use this photo on my personal Facebook page? No, because Facebook is not the tool I am using for my professional development. I will use it with a Twitter profile once I establish a professional handle.

I have noticed other profiles that either don't have a photo at all or have a photo that doesn't illustrate them in a clear manner. I have also noticed this on dating sites! There are any number of profiles that simply don't have a photo—hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you don't have a photo, you aren't going to make a match! Your profile will be passed over almost every time. This doesn't have to be a professional photo but should not be 10 years old either (yes, this has happened to me!) and should be in focus. As a side note, you probably don't want to use professional, modeling photos for your profile—no one will believe the photos are really you!

In the end, if you have a LinkedIn, Twitter or business Facebook page (or a dating site profile), take advantage of a good profile photo. You'll be glad you did.

Social Media and the Courts

It seems that nothing is private anymore, not with the advent of social media and people's inclination to post/upload photos of all the things happening in their lives. However, it was only a matter of time before a client's errant post(s) was picked up by opposing counsel and presented as evidence in a court of law. This is an interesting infographic depicting some of the ways family law attorneys are using posts and photos during trials. Baby-boomer and Gen-X parents have been telling our kids to not post anything that will embarrass us parents but then we forget to abide by the same adage and it's coming back to bite us in court!

I'm seeing CLE courses offered for attorneys regarding ethical considerations of personal use of social media but am not seeing an actual law school courses regarding social media in the courtroom or personal usage. There is a high percentage of under-30's using social media these days (89% according to the graphic) so I imagine it is only a matter of time before a course in social media usage, as both an ethics and evidentiary consideration, becomes a required course in law school. Seeing this graphic prompted me to sign up for a CLE webinar regarding ethics and social media since this topic is becoming more and more a part of my job description. And although I am always careful about what I post on my various social media pages, it also serves as an additional reminder to think before hitting "enter"!

Infographic courtesy of Dishon & Block Family Law Attorneys