if the ways we structure our self-representations are technological filters built into our software and machines, they are also influenced by cultural filters.
profile picture is a visual expression of identity, and our choice of profile photos is clearly a form of visual self-representation. Similar to selfies taken for time lapse videos, profile pictures change over time. Some of us barely ever update them, while others upload a new one every couple of weeks. Like most self-representations in digital media, profile photos are part of a serial and cumulative visual communication.
Profile pictures don’t always show a person’s face. Sometimes the profile picture marks not individual identity but a connection to a social group or political cause. These can be frivolous, like the little Santa hats various apps can automatically add to your Facebook or Twitter profile photo, or they can be deeply serious.
Icons can be added and removed from profile pictures to mark seasons or events. People add Santa hats for Christmas and flags to show support for their team or country during sports events or for political reasons. Icons or flags are also often used as temporary profile pictures instead of the standard photo of the user’s face.
Some users even use a photo of themselves as a child, or a photo of their own child instead of a photo of themselves, in a move that simultaneously anonymises them a little and shows how profile pictures can function as metonyms: this is part of me. Profile photos can change frequently, either as users take new selfies they like, as they use the profile picture to show support for a political cause or a group, or as they find that they are changing and want new representations of themselves.
These kinds of visual identity performance in social media can also be coercive; people can feel pressured into demonstrating a certain group identity. 引自 Chpt 3-Serial Selfies
