The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures. Hello, old friends. I am back from dark months of data mining, here now to present my ores. To write this piece, we cataloged over 7,000 photographs on OkCupid.com, analyzing three primary things: Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? In looking closely at the astonishingly wide variety of ways our users have chosen to represent themselves, we discovered much of the collective wisdom about profile pictures was wrong.
One of the first things we noticed when diving into our pool of photos is that men and women have very different approaches to the camera. Women smile about 50% more than men do and make that flirty-face four times as often. Now, you’re always told to look happy and make eye contact in social situations, but at least for your online dating photo, that’s just not optimal advice. Notice that, however, that flirting away from the camera is the single worst attitude a woman can take. Men’s photos are most effective when they look away from the camera and don’t smile: Weird. Social Music Reinvented. Welcome to Facebook. Drop Spots.