Trumblog

The other day at SoxUp (a Tweetup at Fenway Park and book signing for Steve Garfield’s book Get Seen) someone who I’d never met before came up to me and said “You’re @TPapi? I was reading your stuff today. You’re the guy with the glasses.“

Yup, I’m the guy with the glasses. I feature them in the blog design, have them on my Twitter background using the glasses as an icon. I don’t care about being “the guy with the glasses.” I’m adult enough to accept what I look like (pretty much) and if I really wanted to do something about the glasses I can afford contacts.  But the comment did get me thinking about my brand and specifically my Twitter avatar.

If you follow me on Twitter then you’ve seen, and maybe recognize, my Twitter avatar a yellow and orange Ganesh (Yes it is a Ganesh Prentice). I began using that avatar years ago when I first dipped my toes into social media because I could hide behind it and I thought that being represented by the remover of obstacles couldn’t hurt.

Now of course if I was starting out today I would use a picture of myself as my avatar, which is best practice in order to show transparency, openness, that there’s a real guy behind the tweets, etc.  But even knowing that, I’ve been hesitant to change avatars for two reasons:

1. I’ve used this avatar long enough that I’m afraid that I won’t be recognized without it
2. The little orange and yellow guy stands out from other avatars in the tweetstream

But the comment last Thursday is making me rethink things. I’ve accidentally given myself two icons (Ganesh and Glasses). What do I do? Hang on to my recognizable and identifiable orange Ganesh? Begin using my glasses icon as an avatar? Switch to a picture of myself?  How do I introduce the change and ensure that a new avatar stands out as well as the current one does?

Let me know what you think in the survey below. I’ll announce the results in a week or so and let you know what I’ll be doing.

Twitter Avatar Survey

Thanks

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...