Faces on Twitter

Faces on Twitter – As many of you will have realised I am a big fan of social media – I’ve got profiles on quite a few including Ecademy, Linkedin, Facebook, Plaxo, Xing, Naymz and Twitter.

Now Twitter is both interesting and useful, as well as being fabulously original.  People use it to keep informed, network and do business – and it works pretty well whatever your objectives.

One thing I have noticed is the power of photographs on Twitter.  Everyone can choose to have an icon or a photograph added to their Tweets.  The icons are obviously faceless, in all senses of the word.  They are chosen by people who are just dabbling, or organisations who don’t want to put a face to their words.

People who use photographs get remembered much more than those who don’t.  I don’t have any stats, but I would guess that most people who use faces on Twitter seriously are careful about their image.

One or two people have changed their photographs during the time I have been following them.  And do you know what?  It has changed the way I read their information.  Really.

It confirms all that I know about communication: that about 68% of communication is visual.  That’s a whopping amount – two thirds of our understanding comes from what we see rather than what we read.  So when I read something, I am actually taking in more information from the photograph than I am from the words.  No wonder people with photographs are remembered better.

So it’s no surprise that I react to tweets differently when I see a different photograph.  My understanding has been significantly altered by the communication they are sending.

It’s a fascinating subject, and one that we should all pay attention to if we want to get listened to.  To get heard, you first have to get seen.  So pay attention to the photograph you use, because it changes how you will be understood.