Lumifer comments on Open thread, Feb. 9 - Feb. 15, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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That's actually a pretty standard way of doing it wrong. You end up with a passport picture, basically, suitable for official documents but not for much else.
Especially if you want to get creative with filters or do a barely-recognizable semi-abstract.
The goal here is make an interesting picture, not that resembles the one on your driver's license.
Clearly, I do not understand the goal here. It would be useful to know not only the point of a profile picture but also UnrequitedHope's goal in creating a Facebook account.
On a social media platform, the purpose of a profile picture is to be a picture of your personality, as you wish it to be perceived.
I don't think that's the only purpose. It's also to become familiar to people. If people frequently see your picture, you feel familiar to them. That's easier with a picture where you are easy to recognise. That means a profile picture that doesn't show much more than your face and thus doesn't leave much room for personality signaling.
This theory does not survive cursory browsing of Facebook profile pics. We visually express personality mainly through the face. A profile picture that doesn't show much more than your face still has all of that room for personality.
It depends what you mean with expressing personality. A facebook photo that shows you engaging in a certain hobby does show a certain value of your personality. Face only pictures don't have much room for that.