Are You Up To Date With Your Social Media Images?

10 years ago, social media was still new to the scene with many of us (me included) not having a Facebook or Twitter account, I use those two in reference as they seem to be the main ones the majority of us use on a daily basis, but now we have loads more including Google Plus - otherwise known as G+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat and more.

Image Source.

Also fairly new to the internet scene 10 years ago was PlentyOfFish, an online dating platform, in most recent years a number of other online dating services have popped up, including the most popular one at the moment - Tinder. With an estimated 50 million people using Tinder in 2014, I wouldn't be surprised if that figure now sits at 75 million, gone are the days of blind dates and meeting people in person, in are the days of new era dating - speaking/texting before even knowing what your date really looks like.

Before I bumped into Gareth again after our falling out, I'd tried the new era of dating with unpleasant results. One thing that striked me the most was how different people looked in person, to how they looked in real life, which also applied to me too. I'm not confidence at all and hate full body shot images of myself, however I would always make it known that I was on the larger side of life with thick legs and a chubby waist - as Missy Elliot put it in her song - Lose Control.

Whilst doing my usual news catch up this morning, I was amazed to find that according to research taken out by Bidvine an average person's profile photo is two years old, but it's interesting to see how the time differences between which site/service is being used, considering 2000 people were asked these questions I'm astonished at the response and answers found.

The below statistics were found by asking members of the public to state when they last changed their profile pictures on a range of social media accounts, dating websites and apps.

1. Grindr – 2 weeks

2. Tinder – 3 weeks

3. WhatsApp – 2.5 months

4. Facebook – 5 months

5. Instagram – 6 months

6. SnapChat – 8 months

7. Twitter – 1.8 years 

8. LinkedIn – 2.1 years

9. Plenty of Fish – 3.2 years

10. Match.com – 4 years

As you can see, Grindr and Tinder users (based on the survey participants) change their profile picture at least once a month, whilst Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram users change their profile photo's at least once every six months, with SnapChat users taking a little longer at 8 months, and Twitter, LinkedIn, Plenty of Fish and Match.com users taking well over a year.

I personally only have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,  Whatsapp and Instagram, and can admit I can't remember the last time I changed any of my profile photo's. I'd say I change Facebook more than any of the others, followed by Whatsapp, whilst Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram stay the same image for as long as possible, it's only recently that I changed my blog images as Spud has now grown lots since the last lot was taken.

The research also interestingly found that 1 in 4 people would not want their boss to see their current Facebook profile photo, whilst I'm my own boss I don't have to think about such, but thinking of the past, I have never put a profile photo up that I would never want a boss to see, my profile photo's have always been respectable, but I can see why some would be ashamed or embarrassed.

That leaves me with one question, when did you last change your Facebook profile photo?

Jada x