Social media websites have etched their way into our lives. People now use them for business purposes, networking, advertising, promoting events and staying connected. There is no way we can imagine the world without social media. Given their importance, wouldn’t it be strange if we tell you that some of the social media account pictures are about four years old? An online local services marketplace, Bidvine set out to solve the mystery behind this odd reality.
Bidvine led a survey of 2,000 British people consisting of both, social media and online dating site users to see how often they updated their social media profile pictures. The polling drew astonishing results.
The results revealed that the most up to date pictures were of dating app users. The users of Grindr and Tinder used to upload new pictures after every 2-3 weeks, while Facebook and Instagram users were less frequent in this activity with 5-6 months gap in between changing their profile pictures. The statistics were a shock when it came to dating websites. They had the most outdated pictures, with Plenty of Fish users having their display pictures up to 3.2 years old and Match.com users uploading a new photo after about 4 years.
The survey concluded a list of social media platforms in the ascending order of the years after which the users changed their profile picture:
- Grindr – 2 weeks
- Tinder – 3 weeks
- WhatsApp – 2.5 months
- Facebook – 5 months
- Instagram – 6 months
- SnapChat – 8 months
- Twitter – 1.8 years
- LinkedIn – 2.1 years
- Plenty of Fish – 3.2 years
- com – 4 years
To Bidvine’s surprise, 11% of the participants confessed that their online display picture was photographed a decade ago. They also inquired the contributors about the reason of not changing their profile pictures frequently.
In response to their question, 62% participants said they couldn’t find a good picture of themselves, whereas 49% confirmed that they liked appearing younger to others. 1 out of 4 participants were cautious about their boss seeing their casual displays, so they kept a decent picture on for long.
Sohrab Jahanbani (CEO, Bidvine.com) commented on the results saying that the outdated profile pictures show that the old people using conventional dating sites or sites having a professional bent to them like LinkedIn, hesitate in uploading a new profile photo. On the other hand, young people are enthusiastic and love sharing their pictures, so they change their profile pictures more often.
Bidvine has come up with a solution for those who couldn’t spot any good pictures of themselves. Pop-up booths offering professional photography are set-up for those who are interested in uploading a new profile picture, because everyone knows professional shots make a difference.