Why change your profile photos on a weekly basis?

Firstly, am of the opinion that someone’s social media profile is theirs, and not their partner’s, nor is it the family dog’s. It makes sense for me to have a profile photo of only the person whose profile photo I am viewing. It really does hit me for a six when someone’s Whatsapp/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram photo is of everything else, except them.

I have been so excited by some of the latest Facebook friend requests, only to realise they are more fake than pyramid scams. Apparently Denzel Washington wants to be my friend, Itumeleng Khune is keen on following me on Twitter and Robert Gabriel Mugabe is ecstatic at being in my LinkedIn network. Naturally, like you, when someone wants to befriend me, the first thing I do is to check their profile photo. Of course, celebrities’ photos can be obtained without any effort at all. Hence some colleagues of mine turning out turning out to be celebs, and requesting to be part of my social media circles. If we are not friends at work, why would we suddenly be besties online?

Secondly, I am all for couples expressing their love to us, their friends/colleagues/family, but at some point, we need to be sensitive to those who have #dololobae. As we enjoy the last day of “lurv” month, imagine how frustrating such tendencies must be if you are single?

Thirdly, identity is extremely important. On social media, it is all about the profile photo. As we speak, the wifey’s Whatsapp profile picture includes me, something that can steer people off-course a bit. What I mean by this is that you never quite know who you are chatting to.

We live in an age where all of us are constantly chatting to someone on an individual basis, or to a group of some sort, and we switch between chats regularly. So imagine thinking that you are speaking to my wife, but are confused by her profile pic of myself and her, then you switch to my profile, which might be a photo of my wife? Now you know how people get themselves into sticky situations.

It is all about what a person first sees, and this is a valuable lesson the wifey and I learnt when we attended this year’s Product of the Year Awards. Again, we will never be confused by which products have been voted by your – South Africa’s consumers – as their preferred brands. That is because the winners all get bragging rights and bear a red sticker on them. That is the case now, and always will be.

The adjudicators will not wake up one day and put a crimson, scarlet or cardinal sticker on the winning products, as we all know that it is red. So why do you feel the need to change your profile on a weekly basis, based on how you feel? Today it is your girlfriend, then she upsets you and you change it to your cat then she disappears and you change it to your mom then she divorces your dad then you change it back to you! Ooohh he eh! You will not be the person of the year at the pace you change your profile photos.