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Facebook has become the most popular and widely used personal Internet space, finally eclipsing the dominance of MySpace.com and other smaller websites. One of Facebook's main features is the ability to store and display pictures. In fact, you can post an almost unlimited number of pictures, images, you name it. You can have one photo, thousands of photos, and anything inbetween. It's almost as popular as Flickr for photo sharing and perhaps Facebook will eventually supplant Flickr.

When you sign up for Facebook, you are given a Profile page that you use to tell other people about yourself, which includes a picture that displays prominently throughout the site. There's really no limit or restriction on what you can use as your profile picture (subject to laws and Facebook's user agreement, of course) and you can store multiple pictures in Facebook. It's not uncommon for some people to change their profile picture on a regular basis, which allows you to track some changes in them over time.

I've noticed some trends in the type of pictures that people post in their Facebook profiles. I think that people tend to post different kinds of pictures depending on their phase of life. Although this isn't a scientific survey, here are the things that I've observed:

Before you are married or if you are single:

- Your Facebook pictures show you partying with friends or they are solo pictures that make you look sexy and cool. Indeed, at least some of these people look sexy or cool or both. Your choice of picture is all about making you look like a great person, or at least a fun person.

When you are in a relationship (no kids):

- Your Facebook pictures have you and your significant other, looking happy and having fun.

When you are married (no kids):

- Again, just the same as when you are in a relationship, the picture will feature you and a happy spouse, with emphasis on the wedding photos if you are a woman. A smart husband might put the very same photo on his profile!

When you are a parent:

- Your pictures are of your kids or of you with the kids! Sometimes you and the spouse are in the pictures as well! Baby photos are particularly popular.

When you are a grandparent:

- More often than not, your Facebook photo will feature your grandchildren or you with your grandchildren.

Is this practice unconsciously (or consciously, for that matter) telling the world, "Hey, I am worthy because of these cool people I party with/go with/married/spawned?" In other words, you and your self-worth are determined not by your own personal characteristics, but by those of the people who you are connected to? And is this a healthy thing?

What do you think?

Learn more about this author, Mark Dykeman.
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