The Faces of Facebook

"If you friend request me on Facebook and your profile picture is a car, I will assume you're a transformer." - Anonymous

I’ve been thinking a little bit about Facebook, particularly about people’s profile pictures. It took me ages to find a picture I could use on my profile page. Even then I’m not very happy with it. It seriously shows the wrinkles in my brow. Once it was up, I figured that was that. Find a picture, load it, live with it. Done. I’m amazed by some of my Facebook friends who seem to change their pictures every week or even more often. And I’m intrigued by the photos they choose.

Geraldine looks amazingly like Barbra Streisand. My sister Cath still hasn’t loaded a picture. My brother-in-law Stan shows a photo of a goat in sun glasses. One of my friends is identified by a pair of very high-heeled pink-soled shoes, another by a photo of a fork. Several friends use pictures of their children. My friend Stephen is identified by a picture of his late wife.

I’d love to read a study of the psychology behind our Facebook photo choices. Unless, of course, that study would indicate I’m boring and uninspired. Maybe it’s best to just stop thinking about it. Or maybe I’ll look for another photo in which my brow doesn’t look quite so rutted.