Do People Really Enjoy Looking at Webmasters' Photos??

[DavidDavidDavid]

I notice that a lot of sites, particularly personal development/netpreneur kinds of sites, have a photo or two or more of the "guru" and I'm wondering if everyone else is cool with that...I ask 'cause none of these people seem particularly telegenic to me, and I'm not sure what the point of a photo would be -- to show that they really exist? To demonstrate that they're just an Everyday Joe or Jane -- and therefore, by implication, you-too-can-do-it? Even if telegenic, it might induce cynicism (like maybe "sure it's easy when you have the genetics!")....

Just curious what folks reactions are. Me, I don't think I cared -- until seeing the photos! Then, inevitably, judgments are made...not sure if the potential risk of inducing judgments/stereotypes are worth the potential gain in establishing rapport of some sort....

[firefly]

For me as a reader the primary benefit is being able to match the content to a face. I read several financial blogs that don't have author photos and I constantly get the articles and authors confused because my memory connects better to faces than names.

I'm sure a lot of people don't need that mental hook, so like you said, a blogger/webmaster would have to weigh the risk vs. reward.

[1000feet]

I work with a lot of people online so I don't consider myself as someone who needs to "see a face" to make a personal connection and get to know someone. But when I happen to see a photo of someone I work with, especially when i haven't known them for long, I admit that I am a little more interested in them because it helps me imagine someone living a regular (but different) life somewhere else.

[DavidDavidDavid]

Hmm, interesting...I would have thought that a site's content and look-n-feel would make the necessary lasting impressions...I wonder if this may be another male/female divide??

Maybe there's even an age-group gap, too? Perhaps in this day of facebook and myspace it's expected that a photo should accompany an About Me page?

Then there's the problem of striking the appropriate "tone"...between artsy-fartsy and uninspired-headshot...does a photo communicate anything, or does it allow the readership to project its own hopes and desires??

Surely there's a study on this somewhere....

[Jonathan Mead]

I think that a photo simply adds a little more of a personal feeling toward the site. It's not like you're constantly wondering.. "what does this fool look like."

[ken nubo]

if they have their photo on the webpage or not and does not really matter -- it's the content that matters.

But putting a picture of themselves is generally for building trust and "bonding" over the Internet. but I have a lot in full products ranging in the $75+ from authors who never showed a picture of themselves, simply because I trust that the content works and they have a good reputation.

[Selmanito]

That is a very interesting question David!!!

I am glad you asked this as i would have done so, but you have asked it in a much better way.

I am working on launching my blog and i have been thinking the same. Not only about if i should put up a picture, but also, i would like to add videos to it, and i am wondering if i should narrate it and put a video playing relating to what i am talking about rather than showing myself.

For me i feel uncomfortable in such communication (even putting up my picture!), however i have to go towards the uncomfort in order to achieve a higher state of being. At least to an extent.

I think if content alone is good enough and as long as the "genuine" vibrations are there, one way or another, users will feel a closeness to it. Maybe a friendly sweet mascot to add a "face" to it rather than your own picture?

hmm i wonder....

[DavidDavidDavid]

Selmanito: It seems like a "personal development convention" to get personal and that means, for most people, a photo and maybe even life details.

Me, I think I would want people to focus more on the message than the messenger. I think people have a natural herd mentality, and to my mind "personal development" (I hate that term, but oh well) should encourage people to, as the Buddha had said, be the authors of their own salvation, instead of basically, in effect even if not in intent, "putting their trust in princes" as the Bible admonishes against...but, then again, as some rabbi also said somewhere else (with regards to the Schmaltzfest that is Spielberg's "Schindler's List"), some people need comic books to learn from, while others prefer monographs....

Ken: wow, you're just the kind of customer I'd want! For example, programming books don't have authors' pictures (geeks probably don't look too good, none how!)...but when I see an author's picture, I basically think that someone's trying to sell me on something by an appeal to the emotions ("oh look here I am, I'm real, I'm genuine, you can trust me, don't I look like someone you'd like to hang out with; see, I'm just your type of human being")....

Jonathan: I was wondering whether having that kind of a "guessing game" could be made to help...it's not something I induced, but if that's a reader's natural reaction, sure, let 'em guess -- as Donald Trump noted in one of his books, better to keep 'em guessing than to get pigeonholed and stereotyped, boxed-in...remember the Captain from "Saving Private Ryan" and how he kept his lil' platoon (more like a squad to me) guessing halfway through the movie about his pre-Army life, only to indulge their curiosity in a most powerful way during a highly-charged moment? I wonder if something like that could work for a website, especially one which would otherwise pique such interest through content alone, first and foremost....

[Buddy]

I wonder if it's a matter of wanting to brand ones self. Certainly Tony Robbins is a brand for a large part because of his appearance. Some people want rich and famous. Me? I'll take rich and anonymous any day.

[Jennihul]

Many of them are also speakers that perform in person. I just don't see what is wrong with having a picture on your site. I think asking that is a little stranger than having one's pic up...

Jennifer

[Brutha]

I think it's the blog medium. A blog is supposed to be more human than some corporation.

[1000feet]

People who like your content will probably have some natural curiosity about the author - unless you want to remove yourself from the "feel" of the site as much as possible a photo wouldn't hurt. The type of picture you put up is another hard decision... you may not be able to find one that's perfect for the site (at least not initially) but you should make sure it doesn't go against the tone of the content.

[christinaflores]

Hello

John Reese already addressed this issue :

Anonymous Marketing Is Dead

I hope you find it helpful

Christina

[DavidDavidDavid]

Thanks for the link, Christina; it's a very interesting article. It's recent, though, so I wouldn't simply say that he's "already" addressed the matter!

I know this subject strikes many people as common sense, but I was just wondering whether the internet changes things...the great promise of the internet to me is that anonymity encourages honesty -- ironically, far from having something to hide, I believe anonymity encourages truthfulness; it's why we have secret ballots, after all: to express the true will, unencumbered by "social considerations."

But as with much else in life, context matters, and in business affairs anonymity is just DOA.

[sunj]

I don't care about authors putting their pictures, it doesn't affect me much. But I have thought about real estate agents putting their picture in ads. If you pick up a magazine, it'll have pictures of the houses and their picture somewhere on the page. It cracks me up, I always thought that was funny. Their goal might be to seem "trust worthy" and "safe".

[DavidDavidDavid]

Sunj: That's exactly what I mean. It's exactly the feeling I get. I think it just invites a cynical response, like, hey, why not show some flesh while you're at it, honey....

It actually makes me trust the person even less because I know they're putting a picture up to try to seem "trustworthy" and "safe"...I mean, come on, would you trust someone who has to say "you can trust me"??