To me, your Twitter profile is important. The first thing I’ll look at is your picture. You need to have a real Twitter profile picture. If not, I’m not so sure I’ll trust you.

But I might.

Then, just after I have glansed at your picture, I’ll take a look at your Twitter background. If it’s the default, I’ll stop and think.

Why?

- Don’t you want to change it?
- You’re obviously no designer.
- Don’t you know how to do the switch?
- Can’t afford to hire a designer?
- Don’t you know where to find a free theme?

Please change it.

You’re different, we all are.

There are no reasons why you should stick with the default.

If you don’t know how, I’ll help you.

I won’t help you design it, because I’m no designer. I’ll help you change it.

I have been using several types of Twitter backgrounds. Like all members, I started from scratch, using the default, and I ended up with the one I’m currently using. You can view it at my profile @berget.

Here’s a screenshot:

The real reason

The reason you need your own Twitter profile background is because it represents you. It’s you and your brand.

When people look at it, they’re looking at who you are on Twitter.

In real life, you might be boring, you might not want to stand out. When you’re on Twitter, you might be different. You might be what Dave Gahan is like on stage. If you don’t know who Dave is, let me just tell you that he’s awesome.

Hence, if you want to stand out, you need to be different. If not, stay default.

I’m not saying that you need to hire a professional designer, I’m only saying that you need to be different than default.

It’s not hard.

Sometimes, all you need is a free background.

- TwitBacks
- Twitpaper
- Template Monster
- Twitter-Images
- Twitter Gallery
- Free Twitter Designer
- Tweety Got Back

Use a background that represents who you are on Twitter. If you’re a fairly regular Norwegian guy, do something similar to what I’ve done.

A picture
A Name
A website (or three)

I’m currently using just one Twitter account, although I have created two accounts. I published about ten tweets from the second account, but then I stopped. What I’m saying is, I have one active Twitter account.

The reason why I created two, and thought about creating more than two, was that I wanted to segment my tweets.

I wanted my followers to be as targeted as possible.

For instance, if I was going to tweet about how to use Facebook. I wanted all my followers to be interested in how to use Facebook. If I was going to tweet about article marketing, I thought that I would get the most out of Twitter if all my followers were looking for article marketing tips. The same goes for my thoughts on vegetarianism and animal welfare.

The problem with segmenting my tweets, and creating multiple accounts, is that I don’t really have a passion for more than one topic.

That topic is me, and my interests. I want to be personal, and I want to tweet about whatever comes to my mind. Not just the specific topic related to the specific Twitter account.

I want to be impuslive. I want to brag about the cheddar cheese pie I just made, and I want to tell all my followers that I’ll be participating in Earth Hour.

Now. Using one account, I’m tweeting without always thinking about if the tweet is the right one.

It’s about me, not the topic.

Just after I created my second account, I came to realize that Twitter is not about the amount of followers, and their interests, but the relationship with the followers.

That’s the reason why I don’t care much for multiple Twitter accounts. One account makes using Twitter more personal to me.

Now. Let me ask you the question.

Are you using more than one Twitter account? And if you are, is it because you’re segmenting your tweets?

Looks are important when it comes to Twitter. Looks are related to your appearance and who you are. I’m not talking about the physical you, I’m referring to your Twitter profile picture. And I’m not actually talking about being attractive, beautiful or sexy, I’m referring to authenticity.

You need authenticity in order for people to follow you, to be inspired by you and to connect with you.

Attention

Sexy women always get attention, even on Twitter. That’s why spammers are using sexy women as their profile pictures. This is not authenticity.

Adding a famous person, a celebrity, as your profile picture will also get attention. I’ve seen a lot of “fake celebrities” on Twitter, I’m talking about their images, not fake accounts. Well, I’ve seen that too. People like Jerry Seinfeld, Bono, Britney Spears, Barrack Obama, South Park, The Simpsons, you name it. It might be funny, but it’s not authenticity.

Personal vs Company

Many companies use their logo as their profile picture, or they use something related to their company. For instance, Southwest Airlines are using their logo, and AJBombers are using burgers. That’s ok, but I would go for personal if possible. Twitter is about being personal, it’s about connecting with people, real people. It might be hard for a huge company, like Ford to be personal, but they should try harder. They are using their logo as their profile picture, while they’re bio explains who are tweeting for Ford. On the other hand, when more than one person are tweeting, how would a small profile picture look?

Using Effects

There are many ways to use a Twitter profile picture. That’s what makes it so interesting. I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t like to use their own picture, but they understand that they probably should. So, instead of using a plain old picture of themselves, they avatarize or add various effects to their profile picture.

Why being me is important

I enjoy seeing a photo of the person behind the tweets. A real photo, without any effects. It makes it more personal. Personal is important to me. I could have used a logo, or something completely different. I would probably have received a lot more attention that way, but in the long run, it’s about authenticity. It’s communication between real people, therefore, I haven’t found a reason why I shouldn’t be me.

By the way, this is me.

What about you?

It’s easy to change your Twitter profile picture. That’s not the question. The question is, what kind of Twitter profile picture do you like to see?