What's the first thing you look at when you make a new Facebook friend?
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Most likely, it's the comments on that person's profile picture, according to a new study from the University of Missouri. The comments your Facebook friends leave on your profile picture strongly affect your level of perceived physical, social and professional attractiveness.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as profile pictures are the first place your eye is drawn to on a Facebook profile.
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Seoyeon Hong, a doctoral candidate in journalism, and Kevin Wise, an associate professor, found that the more comments (particularly the positive ones) users have, the more attractive they're perceived to be.
"People tend to rely more on other-generated information than self-generated information when forming impressions," Hong says. "In other words, opinions of other people matter more than the target person’s own self-presentation. Thus, for social networking users concerned about forming a desired impression, being aware of other-generated information about oneself is paramount in the goal of achieving a positive self-presentation."
Hong's research consisted of showing different profile pictures of the same person to her test subjects. Furthermore, photos of people in action -- such as an athlete playing sports or a musician playing an instrument -- received more positive feedback than head shots.
This means it's time to start monitoring the snarky remarks your Facebook friends leave on your profile picture.
"These findings show how important it is to present yourself strategically on Facebook," Hong says. "If you want to be perceived positively by people who view your profile page, including friends and potential employers, it is important to include profile pictures with positive social cues."
Do you ever change your profile picture based on the amount of comments and likes your friends give? Let us know if your surprised by the researchers' findings.
BONUS: 10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away
1. Ekkapong Techawongthaworn
Playful and fun, we're big fans of Ekkapong's rainy creation.
Click here to view this gallery.
Image courtesy of Flickr, colroule1
This story originally published on Mashable here.