A new survey by Bidvine has found that the average person’s social media profile picture is actually 2 years old.
When we consider that most people check their social media as soon as they wake up, and update our profiles daily, it’s surprising to learn that the average profile picture is so old, and may even be up to four years old.
The aim of the survey was to discover how people are presenting themselves online, and 2,000 online dating and social media users were asked about how up-to-date and recent their profile pictures were, which led to some surprising and interesting results.
Those using dating apps like Tinder and Grindr were the most likely to frequently change their profile pictures, and would update every two to three weeks, while Instagram and Facebook users change theirs approximately every 5 to 6 months.
Those who use dating websites are the least up to date, and Plenty of Fish users kept the same picture for around 3.2 years, while those using Match.com waited around 4 years before changing their picture.
The statistics are interesting, as members of the public stated when they last changed their pictures on many different apps, dating websites, and social media accounts.
Grindr users updated an average of every two weeks, Tinder every three weeks, WhatsApp users updated every two and a half months, Facebook users updated every 5 months, Instagram users updated every 6 months, SnapChat users updated every 8 months, Twitter users updated approximately every year and eight months, while LinkedIn users updated every two years and one month.
Finally, dating website and app users updated the most infrequently, with Plenty of Fish users updating every 3.2 years and Match users updating every 4 years.
If you thought four years was a long time to wait before updating, 11% of the people polled said that the pictures they’re using for their online profiles were taken more than 10 years in the past.
The next question aimed to find out exactly why some people were waiting so long before updating their profile pictures. Participants who don’t regularly change their profile pictures were asked why they think that is, with the majority of those who answered (62%) saying that they found it hard to find pictures they were happy with, and almost 50% said that they wanted to look younger to the people who were looking at their profiles.
Interestingly, the research found that 25% said they wouldn’t want their boss to see the profile picture they currently have on Facebook.
Sohrab Jahanbani is the CEO of Bidvine, and he said that when he looked at how regularly people are changing their profile photos, it seems that more conventional and older dating websites and those used for professional uses lag behind, while those who are young and single are more likely to use newer photos.
Since one of the reasons people aren’t updating is because they can’t find photos they’re happy with, Bidvine is setting up photo booths that are pop up an offer free professional photography.
For more information about this, and the survey results, check out this post.
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