What does your avatar mean?: An article focusing in on the top 20 Digg user Avatars’ meaning based on psychological and communication / reputation mgt perspectives
It is interesting to see what avatars people put up on social networking web sites. Some are pictures of the actual person, some are funny, and some really make a statement about their opinions and feelings about certain issues. I got a chance to contribute to an article on analyzing the avatars for the top 20 Digg users on the Good Web Practices Blog and determine what their avatars mean from a communications and reputation management perspective. There were some interesting ones to say the least. 
Overall, this experience has shown me that these individuals are showing people some insights into their personality and their personal brand, but not completely. People are still not comfortable in sharing 100% of who they are online, but at the same time they are showing some characteristics that mean certain things to others. Selecting a specific avatar does impact an individual’s online reputation in many ways. For example, there is always a chance that an avatar may mean something to you (ex. might be funny), but may have a completely different meaning to an other person or group, and could influence their overall opinion of you. It is something to keep in mind to protect your online brand and reputation.
On a personal note, I have used a profile picture of myself for both my web site, blog, and Facebook profile. There are certain characteristics and associations that people may make about me based on this picture (ex. doctoral student in PR, etc). But there are other attributes that I associate with my online reputation and personal brand that may not be present in this one picture, such as being a 4-time All-American in the shot put and USC School record holder. Overall, I think that avatars show certain characteristics that are relevant to specific audiences, but in order to really get to know the individual behind the avatar– you have to communicate with them.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 am
[...] I’ve really enjoyed the exposure to new ideas. Last year, Karen and I were asked to comment on a person’s choice of avatars. We had to do a bit of research into this area before responding, but we had a lot of fun with it. [...]