In his report from the 2015 Avvo Lawyernomics Conference in Las Vegas (recently featured on the Lawyerist), Josh King tackles an unusual topic: the online profile photo. The author points out that presenters at the Avvo conference who had submitted photos were much more likely to have clicks-through to their profiles than were those who had not. And as most of us have observed on our own, profile photos convey different messages depending on their levels of formality, professionalism and other, more subjective factors. However, in most cases, any photo is better than none.

Now, King tells us, there is an app – PhotoFeeler – that allows you to receive assessments of your profile photo from other app users, who rate it depending on its intended use (“business,” “social,” or “dating”). The business category includes scales on such characteristics as “likeable,” “competent” and “influential.” Visitors to the site rate others’ photos in exchange for receiving ratings on their own.

Whether you use an app for guidance or not, putting some thought into the suitability of online profile photos — and soliciting some unbiased feedback – is a great idea for everyone.

I invite you to let me know your thoughts on this or any other matter in the comments section below, or directly via email.