How Does Your Profile Picture In Social Media Affect Your Public Persona? Surprising Results From Studies

Many people in our society are addicted to social media and one of the most popular features in social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram is the account user's profile picture. Apparently, there are many aspects of people's profile pictures that people can judge them by.

Medical Daily compiled a list of different profile picture criteria based on study results. The article says that these factors might be showing things to other people that you did not intend to show them.

In a 2014 experiment, two fake social media accounts were created for one woman. The first account had a picture where the woman was dressed conservatively while the other account shows a profile picture of the woman in sexier clothes. The researchers found out that the sexy profile pic was not well liked by other women.

In another study, researchers tried to find out how facial expressions in profile pictures affect job opportunities for people. The team found out that those who look a little happy in their pictures but not too happy are more preferred by most employers. Those who had poker faces were perceived to be less reliable compared to pictures of potential employees who look just a little happy.

In another study involving 300 heterosexual participants, men were shown two versions of a woman's profile picture --- one has been edited to look more beautiful and the other version was unedited. The same was done with the females but vice versa. "Men rated the enhanced profile pictures to be hotter, but less trustworthy than their unenhanced counterparts. Women too found the enhanced pictures more attractive, but they also found them more trustworthy than the unenhanced photos," the article revealed.

Huffington Post shared some advice on posting a great social media profile picture. Learning how to look confident and relaxed, knowing the strengths of your physical appearance, being natural and showing a genuine smile and choosing the best hairstyle to complement your face are some of the tips to have a great profile picture.