The profile pic is a signal - whether it is on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
A tiny amount of pixel space where the site allows limited exploration.
A newbie is instantly recognizable - the ones who have the standard issue avatar of the site. It could also signal the rebel who does not wish to play the game. But that's often the exception rather than the rule.
Around profile pics, there's a whole system of small apps which exist to allow you to change and modify the pics in accordance with what the current trend is.
I am definitely old school - I don't experiment with new angles, backgrounds or even the outer colors of the circle.
So it was a pleasant surprise when Titus Snell sent me a message with two profile pic options - and I was touched that he had made the effort to work on the pictures and send it to me.
One of them was a sedate blue, which was calm and collected. And what I switched to. The other was a rust shade of red - which is also quite unusual. Maybe in a few weeks from now.
And then, Prof Alby Kurian told me that a photograph of mine on a slide in the background while I was speaking at a conference definitely created an aura. Far more than any kind of angle or artifice that I could have come up with. So, that went up and by all measures, it does help to set an elevated context.
Though it's small, the profile pic definitely allows you to express your individuality.
And shimmer in a sea of faces!
Routing for roots!
The well-to-do are migrating from India in large numbers according to the ministry. Over 600,000 people have given up their passports over the past 5 years
There will be various interpretations of this move - right from the political to those who believe that a future in a developed country may be a good hedge against climate change.
Like a whole lot of wealthy people in the US decided to get their own homes in New Zealand as a safe haven when Covid was raging in the US.
Now, some of these are simply assumptions. There is a pattern but within the pattern are complex reasons and it never is as simple as the media like to portray it.
Another pattern. Companies abroad are finding it hard to attract Indian techies. There are a whole lot of reasons behind this.
For one thing H1B spouses who earn money on the side by running their own businesses in the US live from one government policy to the next
The coveted 'Green Card' hopefuls live in limbo in the US. Indians are apparently the biggest set of nationals awaiting the change from Green Card to citizenship.
Gen Z in India finds that there isn't much of a difference working from here. The money is good and like techies in the big cities in India who had moved back to small towns during Covid, they're getting comfortable.
On a global chess board, it's like the pawns now have a mind of their own!
The commercial viability of online followers
Businesses are finding that social media followers aren't exactly the best metric to estimate results.
Book publishers who paid massive advances to top celebrities based on their followers-in-the-millions-profile would lead to big sales were sorely disappointed.
There's a slip between public perception and reality.
Building a following in the real world involves tremendous work and effort. Influencers can actually get things moving with just a phone call or an appeal.
On social media, however, the commitment is easily made and just as easily forgotten because there is no firm connection or consequence.
The words influencers and followers don't have the same magnetism and aura when they transition to social media.
You can't blame the portals alone for the way this works. They built approximations of the real thing.
Connections, engagements, feedback and even likes online are imitation versions of what real world commitments involve.
If you're connected to a person in the real world, both of you take the time to meet, talk to each other and help out in various situations. You know each other's families, possibly and have several shared experiences as memories.
But online, it's just a click and you're away. You may like what a person posts and look forward to reading more or watching a video but the connection ends there. They may not know you at all beyond the profile picture.
Having millions or even thousands of online followers is not a bad thing. It even gives a completely different vibe - and at times, that's all you're looking for.
But equating them to real world relationships is a stretch - they exist in another orbit altogether.
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The standout potential of LinkedIn profile pics