Profile image album management and users’ online sharing behavior

Abstract

The increasing importance of profile image highlights the development of a new platform feature—the profile image album—for consumers to conduct strategic visual impression management. Based on a dataset containing 3,296,295 reviews posted by 42,700 Yelpers and their profile image albums, this study illustrates a positive relationship between profile images and sharing efforts. Furthermore, as proxies of the tactics of human-centric information disclosure and facial self-presentation, human and face images positively moderate the effectiveness of the album in facilitating voluntary contributions. Particularly, consumers who predominantly feature themselves alone, or who often display large smiles, tend to put additional effort into sharing online. Theoretical and practical implications are drawn from the results.