Online Social Networking Teaches New Skills
It is good to be back on this blog of mass destruction cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand. I feel so at home here, mu
st be the food. I can almost smell the fire and taste the dogs.
Without even realizing it I picked up a valuable skill through my participation in social networks. The FBI, has special software to do what I can do in my mind. The ability to take a photo and use it to determine what someone will look like in 10 or 20 years.
I see the pictures of my friends online, and sometimes know them for years before I meet them in person. If they are Realtors, they seldom look like their photos. At first it was hard. I would see them and they would say hello and extend a hand, I would look back with that doe in the headlight look, and they could tell that I didn't know who they were.
Since then, I have learned how to save mental pictures of my online friends and age the photo by 10 to 20 years so that when I meet them, I can figure out who they are. It is a useful skill, it doesn't help with some of the avatars but it helps with the online portraits, and who knows maybe someday it will lead to a job in forensics.
I am not sure that I can add 40 or 50 years to a photo, but I am working on it so that I recognize David Smith when I meet him. I know that this photo is his way of making a statement but I think he may have gone too far. He says he has grand children so it is likely that he doesn't look like the child in the picture.
Nice picture - obviously a REALTOR at work. Aside from the age requirement, I do have 2 other issues -
One People who get glamour shots that make you think their card is from an escort service instead of a real estate company.
Two I am lobbying for a threshold requirement for people who put their pictures on shopping carts in the supermarket - Some of those folks must be cost revenue because the photos are donwright unappetizing :-)
Posted by: Bill Lublin | May 29, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Bill _ I agree, I have seen some photos that I would not use for marketing, we can not all be totally adorable like David. As for the Glamour shots I also agree. It is just too bad that we can't move away from the idea that branding for Realtors has to be a face.
Posted by: t | May 29, 2008 at 12:02 PM
I just don't take a good picture anymore and I am sorry but I guess I am a little vain. I don't want to look terrible to everyone. Your right it is too bad our marketing has to be that way.
Posted by: Chris Shouse | May 29, 2008 at 04:32 PM
T, you nailed my biggest pet peeve (and the reason our company bans face marketing)... there is nothing worse than going to Inman this year and thinking "ewww" instead of "aaah." I'd rather use a bad pic and surprise people than use my high school mug shot and have people think "oh, you don't look like that any more." I can't tell you even how many *bloggers* I've seen *real* pics of on Flickr and said to myself, "self, they mislead me" followed by a sigh of disappointment.
Le sigh.
Posted by: Lani Anglin-Rosales | May 30, 2008 at 10:20 AM
I should get a weenie award! Or at least a free hotdog...I recently updated my 10 year old headshot, just so all my online friends would recognize at RE Tech South in Atlanta a few months ago. I didn't like admitting to be fluffier and older, but I did it.
The current shot was taken by my future daughter inlaw with me in front of a bush - if I hadn't tilted my head so much I would like it a little better :)but I was trying to hide my double chins.
Posted by: Michelle DeRepentigny | May 30, 2008 at 08:43 PM
And I always say "ahhh" when I see Teresa. :)
Posted by: Jeff Turner Looks Just Like His Photos | June 05, 2008 at 01:32 PM
even the black and white photo?
Posted by: Teresa Boardman | June 05, 2008 at 01:40 PM