Intention

This module's reflections on selfies and self-representation led me in particular to consider the more subtle ways that a profile picture represents the user. In particular, I drew on Goffman's theory of  performed self-maintenance and presentation bringing a sense of "presentness" to one's face-to-face  interactions. The profile picture is the most public part of your profile, but in a way, it's also the most personal. When you talk to friends in chat, particularly on facebook, profile pictures take on a stronger relationship to identity. Opening a chat bubble on mobile leaves your friend's profile image hovering around your screen, regardless of what you're doing on the phone. At a glance, multiple conversations are indicated by the profile image, not the user's name. You even see a smaller version of their profile image in the message log, letting you know how far they've read. This experience encourages the association of the profile image with the person you're chatting with, and in the most extreme sense, becomes their "face-to-face" presentation. With this consideration in mind, it now seems quite in line with Goffman's theories that the profile picture generally is the user's favorite representation of themselves - which is not to say that people with "bad" profile pictures are akin to mentally ill people who cannot or choose not maintain their appearance, merely that there is a relation between the two ideas.

Following this idea further, I was intrigued by the idea of communicating a more dynamic, accurate (though not necessarily more flattering) self-presentation with a profile image that changed throughout the day. So long as the image was clearly of me, no one would have trouble interacting with me. Of course, this also meant that I had to continually upload a new photo of myself regularly, which some people find distasteful, but of all other options, I was most drawn to this one.