Making a Personal Plea for LinkedIn Profile Pictures

I know, I know that you’ve heard all the reasons why you should have a profile picture – people don’t want to hire ghosts, blah-blah-blah. Please keep reading, this isn’t about that at all, I promise. And let me just add that while I am an avid recorder of life in pictures, you will infrequently find one of me in my own archives because I’m not fond of my own image.

But look me up, I have a profile picture. It took a month of nearly daily photo sessions to get one that I liked (and that was on a haircut day, so I didn’t do my own hair), but there is an acceptable picture of me out there attached to my social media persona. (By the way, I use the same picture for all social media – which helps me to show that if you find someone out there doing something untoward and that person has my name but not my image it is not me.)

I have been busy meeting many new and interesting people in the last few months and I have connected to quite a few of them on LinkedIn, even some that I have yet to meet in person. I love expanding my circle and I’m pretty good at remembering faces. I’m working on being better at associating the faces to the names. (It’s a work in progress, we won’t count how long this has been an active project.)

About 2/3 of my current connections on LinkedIn have pictures and I thank you sincerely. It helps me with my name to face association project. If I know that I am going to see someone that I haven’t seen in a little while, I go to LinkedIn to refresh the association. And I am occasionally disappointed when I get that ghost staring back at me.

Also, if I am to meet someone new, someone that I’ve only spoken to via email or phone, I do the same. I was recently in a coffee shop waiting to meet a new contact in person and looking forlorn, I’m sure, because she was a ghost on LinkedIn. Luckily it wasn’t a busy time of day or I would have had to approach every woman who walked in.

So for me, and all those potential new and useful contacts you might make out there, please add a clear picture of yourself to your profile. My name to face association project thanks you.