Why are some people more private than others?
Why are some people more private than others?
I wrote this blog for WA members because I have noticed that some find it strange that someone would not put their own image on their profile; whereas some would not even think of using anything else to represent them.
A photographer once told me that “Every picture has two faces”, what she meant by this is that most of the photographs that she had taken of people represented the image they wanted to portray and was not necessarily the real person.
The ‘Social Media Junkies’ are fanatical about looks as this is the main feature of the concept of ‘Social’, yet I do not agree with this concept of ‘Image is everything’.
I agree it goes a long way to trusting someone who you might want to buy something from, or one day marry but there is always two sides to everything.
My personal opinion is that one thing I liked about Wealthy Affiliates is that they never pressure you for anything; not even their premiums.
They leave you the ‘Choice’ and that was what endeared me to this community and the Founders; Kyle and Carson.
As far as my image is concerned when I first joined WA and was setting up my profile; the picture that I chose would not upload, so I contacted Kyle and the community to ask why?
I got a response from one member immediately telling me of another way to load a picture and I joked that “I shall have to do some ‘Photo-shopping’ first”, but what I meant is that I am not one of these people who need to present myself to the world.
I am about; what do I have to offer others?
My image is not the first thing that comes to mind as I am aware of people’s judgement of others because of their looks, skin colour, race, religion, etc.
These factors are the major causes of most disagreements around the world today and it is present in Wealthy Affiliates although I am sure Kyle and Carson would tell you otherwise, which to some extent I would agree because the focus here is business and money, so for that people overlook many things.
I like people to find me out as to whether I am genuine or not, just like I do with them.
I am sure many here will have their own views and they are all to be respected as I hope mine are.
That said; I shall leave you with a quote which I think is relevant and I hope no one takes offence at my views or this blog, especially the founders of Wealthy Affiliates; which I still think is one of the best online educational platforms.
Recent Comments
16
Hi Melvin,
I do share your thoughts and I also appreciate that WA allows each member to choose how much they would like to reveal. I'm a shy person by nature and slow to warm up. It took me over two years to reveal my photo and home address to a closed writer's blogger community.
I'm also a little bit careful because I do have a day job. It would not be nice to bump into my boss or co-worker here.
Hi Sara,
I never thought of that, lol.(the boss/co-worker)
Women are more shy and reserved in some cases.
The photo I see is a flower though, what happened?
I don't know about the home address; why would anyone at WA need that?
Other than administration, unless you guys are having parties?
Best wishes,
Melvin.
I get both, negative and positive comments on my pictures, mostly because my beard but I don't really care much. I am who I am and I think using my real photo does more good than bad in the long run.
I have noticed better engagement on my blog and social media accounts after I started using a photo of myself though ;) But then again, I am trying to promote myself as a "brand", in a way, so it's kind of necessary to be authentic and transparent.
This is very true Alex, because people feel they can associate with you and your image, some people find it difficult to reason with an icon/avatar.
It is definitely required if you are wanting something from people, like money.
Wish much successful money-making in your business.
Melvin.
I am always careful about the photo I choose to represent myself online. People do make judgments, all the time, and I am conscious of that when I post photos. I am self conscious of having my photo taken so I don't have a lot of photos to choose from which limits my choices. So I go with the most professional thing I can find. Which isn't necessarily my real face. All of us wear masks, public and private, and varying degrees of private masks. If we didn't we would all go a bit crazy. And the world would be a bit of a crazy place. So it is a good thing we wear masks, most of the time. Unless when the time comes to take them off, we can't. Then it is a problem. Those are just some of my thoughts.
Brilliantly said Sheila, It's like someone who you don't know being able to see something that you don't necessarily look for in yourself.
There are different ways that people wear masks like actors etc.
I just think like Kyle said "everyone is personal" and should be able to show as much of themselves as they feel comfortable with.
We all have our characters otherwise it would be crazy.
Thanks for the response, it's good to debate.
Best wishes,
Melvin.
Yes, Melvin, I think the point is that people should be free to be themselves, to show as much or as little of themselves as they feel comfortable showing. It builds trust and if you accept them where they are soon, they will show you more. It's funny like that. Trust has to be earned. A think I used to tell my father who believed it was a gift that ought to be given outright despite mistreatment and abuse.
Yeh old fashioned thinking?
But then the world was different from this 'social media' generation.
very nice discussion, thanks.
Melvin.
Hi Melvin.
I did not put a photo of me when I first started.
But when I did put my photo on. I still have my first image photo
on my profile. I felt it was to nice to delete .
You can never delete you; as this is what you are and we like you as you are :)
thanks for the comment.
All the best,
Melvin.
People are personal and private by nature, although the Internet has opened the floodgates to "Selfies" and bragging, there is nothing wrong with tippy toeing into things without having to reveal everything about yourself.
As you become more comfortable with a community, you can warm up to it and offer your friends more information but joining any platform is like creating a relationship with someone. Before you learn about someone and before you can build trust, there has to be the comfortable setting for the introduction and the first "hello".
That's definitely me Kyle, thanks for the comment.
We appreciate all you and Carson have done for us and we are working hard to grow together in our own way.
Melvin.
Hi Melvin. I have to agree that the image does not speak of the person. This goes for a picture of yourself. Pictures can be deceiving and I like to use images that are not my true self. I think it is because I want to people to get to know me before they judge me.
In today's world, everyone is focused on looks and social status and they tend to forget to look at the whole person and not just looks. Great blog
Hi April,
Thank you for your educated response and yes I have issues :)
I am overcoming them slowly with the help of a great community and teachers like yourself.
Thanks for the comment.
Best wishes for the future,
Melvin.
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awesome message