Note: Importance of Digital Profile Pictures on Social Media Perceived by Different Groups

Abstract

Nowadays much of human interaction are taking place online and on social networking sites. These platforms often encourage people to use profile pictures as parts of their profiles. To understand digital identity construction across various user communities and to foster inclusive, diverse, and sustainable online interactions among them, it is imperative to understand the perception of different users groups about digital profile pictures (DPP). In order to explore this, we conducted a cross-border analysis on different social media platforms. Based on a quantitative study on more than 500 responses from a two-week survey of social media users from 29 different countries, we observed how people from various demographic groups perceive the importance of DPPs. Our results suggest that the perception is significantly different across some social factors and social media usage behavior.