Follow @sharad_h harjai's blog: All that glitters is gold !!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

All that glitters is gold !!

Have u ever thought twice before changing ur DP?? Well... to most of us its not a big thing!!! We just make a small effort to keep it interesting.

One random day me and @sumagambs had a small discussion.
And the topic was "Is your presence on twitter coz of ur name or ur DP". Or let me put it this way...ppl on twitter recognize u by ur handle or ur DP? When we can have so many case studies about people based on their Dp's, a small discussion was surely a worth!! 

Well the observations were based on fact that our mind stores images in a much better way than text or any other thing. And suddenly i realized that when i browse through my timeline, i read tweets corresponding some particular DP's not handles!!! May be the reason is catchy images get more attention than some alphabets!!!
So, if I change my DP too often!! does that mean that my presence will not be so firm??? Well, our discussion said..catchy DP comes with better visibility!! And frequent changes may effect temporarily !! But its not a vice-versa thing!!!

That’s our take on it !! What do you guys think abt it?? Or do u guys even think abt it or not??

23 comments:

  1. Very interesting :-) .. I'm thinking about it now...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess our mind creates an image of the person when we look at the DP.. n wid every changing DP in different pose n all.. our image of that person changes n modulates.. its funny when we meet tweeps at Tweetup to see our image of them do not exactly MATCH! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. @lost_scotoma : Well said mate !! n thats what exactly happened to me at blogcamp mumbai!! I was actually trying to match faces to DP's that I see daily in my timeline !! And there was a huge diff!!

    May be we know just one side of a person displayed in DP !! But he actually is much more than that!! :)

    @cool Do think and let me know if ur thoughts match!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. wel i think its da name /handle that matters :) but dp shows a bit effect 4 sure and thats temporary as u said :) nice writing :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. True. Two reasons for that, of which you have already mentioned one, the ease for us humans to remember images and associating them with people.

    Another possible reason is that most of the clients out there, and even the web interface of Twitter prominently show the DP of a user. My client, DestroyTwitter has a relatively smaller DP thumbnail size as compared to TweetDeck or the web, and hence, a changed DP isn't noticed so often, but it still takes time to realise who a tweet is coming from soon after a DP change at times. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. i have thought about it for sure :D
    see, in my mind, the more attractive/attention-grabbing the DP, the better it serves you...
    you may have awesome thoughts and people love you for them, but the good DP is like a cherry on top of a black forest cake :D
    similarly, you may not have awesome thoughts, but an awesome DP, that'll get you more attention than you deserve ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. well, of course DPs do catch attention easily n can create sort of first impression abot the person, we all know how first impression matters.

    Totally agree wid you at "All that Glitters is Gold" out in this world

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanx guys for your responses...

    @Vishal thnx mate !!

    @Ninad Pundalik yes buddy the other point you have mentioned is also equally valid!! Agree!!

    @bindaasviti see... great minds think alike :P

    @crazygene now that's the word to sum up!! First impressions !!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Complete Agreeable kaka. We all know how pictures have an impact on everybody's mind. Do 1 thing remove your pic one day(mostly twitter default pic) and people will start guessing about your personality from the tweets you post. I think that might give you another insight. What say??

    ReplyDelete
  10. @nutt$ that will be a confusing day for my followers and only those will be able to recognize me whom I have interacted personally with!! Nice insight though !! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. of course.. if u have a DP which is talked about a lot, then its the DP that's the locus of attention. eg. if u put a dp of u jumping off a cliff, and immediate tweets of u recovering in the hospital.. i'm gonna remember that DP for sure! :D
    if any of my friends keeps changing their DP i have to 'struggle' with the name to realize who that is..

    ReplyDelete
  12. @sharadharjai Thats what the point is.. Confuse your existing followers and try to make an impression on the new ones.. And then see the outcome..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ahh...that explains it,why I have 255 followers, 254 being sexbots.

    Soham
    jumpup.wordpress.com


    P.S:The last one is a human though, but she forgot her password

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Interesting post Sharad...!!!

    In my opinion, people do form some kinda of image when they see ur DP either on twitter or FB. A DP with a suit depicts that u hv a professional way of doin things n a casual dp indicates a cool look. Dats why almost all ppl (me too) have a DP in business suit on LinkedIn and here on twitter, its more of a casual (cool-looking) DP.

    But having said that, ppl do observe what updates u r posting & den forms an overall image. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. @sohamdas ha ha !! gd one !!
    glimpse of your blog says its too complicated to understand with all the alphas and thetas rolling around !! Will Surely be in touch with ur blog.


    @akhil thanx for dropping here mate !!!
    That explain the game of your profile pic. Different forms for different meanings !!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I guess what plays an imp part is also what app are u using for accessing twitter is it a phone app or a desktop app or is it the tiny mobile screen and the GPRS
    the thing with me is I use cleantwit from my phone and the screen of my E71 is small so I rely on the names and @sharadharjai I knw u use Snaptu and iTweet both of which let us ee the DP clearly so may be what we use also influences what we use to remember a person, the dp or the handle

    ReplyDelete
  18. @sumit Quite possible ... The thing that we see more remains in mind !!! May be handles in ur case :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. whoa!! that's some discussion happening here :P

    Almost everything has been covered here,but i will still offer my 20 paise

    DP for me helps select reciprocating follow-love cos i tend to give in to human DP's

    As for the visibility, i really bout.For me, visibility comes 1) seeing a particular person indirectly in my timeline( RT's,#ff,conversations) 2) conversations i have with them.

    Having said that, a changed DP might be an issue when i haven had too many interactions with someone.Otherwise, for me i dont think a DP matters a lot, unless otherwise it's a good looking girl :P

    ReplyDelete
  20. @ The Knife : DP= Display Pic

    @sharad: a lesson!! thou shall not assume who ur target audience is :P *hint*

    BTW awesome effot man, food for thought stuff and the amount of comments reflects that .

    ReplyDelete
  21. @ankit thanx pape !!!
    Point noted !!!

    ReplyDelete