How often do you change your profile photo? A new study suggests that the average profile picture is actually 2 years old. While some social networks may be updated more often than others, it seems clear that we aren’t bothered about updating our image too often. So why is that – and why should we be changing them more often?
Most Rapid Changes
The survey conducted by Bidvine discovered some very interesting results. Photographs on dating website Match.com were 4 years old on average, while Plenty of Fish users only updated every 3.2 years. LinkedIn was normally around 2.1 years old, and Twitter just behind it at 1.8 years. SnapChat was only 8 months old, and Instagram only 6 months old, while Facebook profiles get changed around every 5 months. WhatsApp pictures were an average of 2.5 months old, but Tinder users changed theirs every 3 weeks. Grindr users changed them every 2 weeks for the most rapid-fire changes.
Reasons For Old Profile Shots
The 2,000 British respondents to the survey gave some very surprising answers when asked why they did not change their profile photo too often. 62% were struggling to find images they were happy with, while 49% actually wanted to seem younger for those who were checking their profiles. This is probably why 11% of those polled were able to admit that their profile picture was taken more than 11 years ago! Sohrab Jahanbani is the CEO of Bidvine, and he says, “Looking at the regularity with which people change their profile photos, it appears that older, more conventional dating websites and the networks people use on a regular professional basis, such as LinkedIn and Twitter lag behind, while younger single people are more likely to want to use newer photos.”
Why It’s Important To Update
Looking at the statistics, a trend emerges. Those who are hardly ever changing their photos want to seem young, but people who actually are young change their image regularly. So it seems that if you want to appear younger, you should probably be following the right actions rather than having a younger photograph: change your image often and you will seem younger and closer to the younger generations. If you are single, having an up to date photograph also helps. It can’t be satisfying for your Match.com date to find you looking 4 years older than you did in your shot! As if that wasn’t enough, 1 in 4 people said that they would not like their boss to see their current Facebook profile picture. That’s an urgent reason to change, as profile images are one of the few variables that can be seen by all visitors to your page, not just your friends.
How To Change
The best way to get started on changing your picture is to take some photos of yourself that you like. Jahanbani says, “Bidvine is setting up pop up photo booths offering free professional photography for those who want to update their social media profile pictures. As we all know, whether it’s for a wedding, a company headshot or your online profiles, professional photos make a difference. We’ll be announcing cities and dates for the photo booths on our website shortly.”
If you are looking at a profile picture that is more than a year or two old, it might be time for a change. Get those selfies at the ready – and take them all night if you have to!
