Why Should You Have a Twitter Avatar?

When you first register your Twitter account, you are assigned a default avatar. That is a  PNG format image with an unhatched egg  as you can see below:

So what does this image mean? Literally it is an unhatched egg. An immature bird. I assume nobody wants to give that impressions constantly

Now… What does that “default avatar” mean in twitterverse. If you leave your avatar as the default (and NULL) possible meanings are:

• You do not take Twitter seriously
• You are just lazy
• You are a spammer
• You are nobody
• You are so unsocial that you cannot have a friend with a camera to take your photo
• You are unsocial and do not have a camera
• You are unsocial and do not know auto-shutter function of your camera
• You are a company / group that does not have a logo
• etc.

Best Practices for a Twitter Avatar
On Twitter (and in social networking) people would like to see yourself. Nobody likes to communicate and share things with stylistic images, cartoon characters or so.. Some ideas:

• Put your own photo that reveals your own face (preferably professionally taken) showing how a nice person you are…

• Use a plain background and a high quality picture. Do not let other details shadow your face…

• You may use a a full body or a bust portrait picture, but make sure that it shows “who” you are.

• You can also have a stylistic representation of yourself (if you are a designer or have a designer to draw one for you), you can use it as soon as it really represents you uniquely.

• Avoid webcam shots.. They are low quality and blurred.

So, what if you are not a single person. Some ideas below:

• For a couple, use a picture together

• For a brand/company/group/team, use the logo

• For a “robot”, use the picture of your “robot” 😉

• For a pet or plant, use a picture of it