How to Write a Good Profile (Or why I don’t care that you don’t bite…hard)
Posted by Danni on November 12th, 2008
The Second Life Bloggers Mix’n Match #1 blog posts are ready!
Chestnut Rau is a Second Life avatar, blogger, Plurker and online socialiser. I’m not sure if I’ve met her in world, but I follow her on plurk and read her blog. Here she writes on writing a good profile, which should be useful for any Second Lifers out there.
Anyway, on to her blog post:
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A complete and interesting profile is your calling card. It tells strangers and friends a bit about you so it is worth taking the time to put together words and photos that represent yourself. But how do you do that? Let’s start with the basics which means — cue trumpets — a Torley video! Go here and watch it! Torley walks you through the mechanics of how to add text, photographs, picks, classifieds and weblinks to your profile. As always, Torley videos are entertaining and educational and if you did not know, you can find videos about many many topics in the SL Knowledge banks so if you are ever stuck its a great resource.
So the mechanics of creating a profile are pretty easy. But what about the content? You profile is a statement about you. It tells the rest of the world who you are or at least who you want other people to think you are. I am an avid profile reader and just love an interesting, funny or informative profile. When I am at events where there are lots of people I often scan the crowd and check profiles. I admit it! I absolutely love the pics tab. I have found many wonderful places by checking profiles so please, for my exploring fun, add your favorite SL haunts to your profile!
If you read my profile you will learn I love music and art and that much of my SL is spent listening to live music. It is easy enough to see this by virtue of the groups I belong to, which are displayed on the 2nd life tab. You can get a link to my personal blog, deduce that I am from New York, and learn that I am partnered to a wonderful person.
If you check the first life tab of my profile you will notice I am married in RL and have two children. The first life tab tends to give some people heartburn. Many many people are loathe to share RL information and so the 1st life tab more often than not says things like “don’t bother asking” or “none of your business.” It is rare to find a photo of a RL person accompanied by honest information. No worries there, but I do wonder why people feel the need to include rude language challenging anyone who looks at the first life tab. If you don’t want to share, by all means don’t!
In my experience as a profile voyeur I have observed a few things about how social circles are portrayed in profiles. Some people describe their personal relationships in excruciating detail, embellished by photos, poetry, chat logs and poetry. I understand the need to feel associated or even “claimed,” I do really. I am partnered and do have a pic with a photo and some words about my partner that are meaningful to me on my profile. What I do not understand is 5 or 7 tabs proclaiming your undying love, followed by chat logs of wedding ceremonies, followed by heartfelt break up poetry. Your profile is viewable literally by the whole world asSL publishes them to the web. You may want to think about that before you wear your heart on your 2nd life tab or pics page.
So now, I will turn to my least favorite ten profile cliches!
(On the first life tab) “None of your business”
“This girl is owned by Master (fill in the blank). If you have any problems with this girl please take it up with him.
“Drama free” (followed by 3 pics describing the drama they have created)
Under languages “I speak typonese”
“I don’t bite — much” or “Unless you want me to”
“Don’t mess with my friends or family or I will mess you up”
“If you wanna know something just ask, I just might answer”
Most of these statements are so over used they don’t mean a thing any more. Please take some time to be original in your profile. You are not just like every other avatar walking the grid. Use your profile as a way to say who you really are. If people see something that is interesting to them, chances are they will IM you to ask about it. Those chance encounters have lead to some of the best friendships I have in SL. So tempt us with an interesting pic and tell the world something about yourself.
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This is a guest post by Chestnut Rau. The topic was suggested by Harper Beresford.
My blog post will be available on Gany’s take on (any) life. Kanomi Pikajuna will be blogging about my topic, A child in an adult world: being a child avatar in Second Life, over on Stories From Another Life.
November 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
As an inveterate reader of profiles I agree wholeheartedly with your list of peeves and cliches!
I would only add please stop the unoriginal and unimaginative regurgitation of song lyrics, movie lines, or other trite phrases – which I admit, I have been guilty of from time to time
Also, bigoted blasting of vast swathes of people based on nationality, religion, subculture, who they voted for, what they wear, what music they listen to, and so on, doesn’t reflect well upon you.
A profile has a very limited space to make a first impression on that first tab, so make it literate, original, and interesting! Then use your “picks” tabs to let us find out more about you…don’t make all your picks into long in-jokes or paeans to your friends, or crappy commercial advertisements. We’re likely to turn away and you won’t be meeting very many people that are new.
And if you mention a blog in your profile put the URL on your Web tab!
=)
November 12th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Interesting point of view on profiles… I should definately try to update mine, it’s been “unaltered” for about half a year now.
There’s some things in that “list of 10 donts” I should probably erase aswell then ;o)
November 12th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I loved the list of cliches! So true! And you article title is great!
November 12th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Your list of cliches is fantastic.
And this is prompting me to think about a possible update for my own profile. Great post!
November 12th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Great post Chestnut! I profile read a lot, and I hope that many will take your tips to heart. In fact, I see a few profile changes I need to make.
November 15th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Great post Chestnut.
So many people simply don’t realize how profile is important. And that “I’ll write something later” is not adequate thing to be in profile of an avatar older than a week. Similarly, so many people just put something into about section and neglect all the other tabs. How is anybody supposed to know which languages you speak if you don’t say? Hmmmm… I am guilty of having Typonese in my languages *blushes*
November 15th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Thanks. As an avid reader of profiles, I hope lots of people read your suggestions. Something I’ve noticed within my networks is that people who seem to have a list of what NOT to do, tend to get approached by more people wanting to do whatever it is they say they don’t want than those who say nothing. I’d recommend people saying what they do want, rather than what they don’t. It’s likely to be more productive. Thanks again – I’m thoroughly enjoying sitting in the spectator gallery as part of the Mix n’ Match.
November 15th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
[...] How to write a good profile by Chestnut Rau [...]
November 15th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Excellent post, and your cliches are spot on. If I see the “I Don’t Bite…” bit once more, I just may bite someone.
As for my profile, don’t blame me. It’s mostly poetry.
Z
November 17th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I too am guilty of a stagnant profile. Change my 1st life pic from time to time ‘cuz I get sick of it. But other than that.. everything is 8-9 months old! So.. If you don’t find that acceptable, I can’t help but say it: “bite me”!
But seriously, great post!
November 17th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Blank profiles make me crazy, it seems antisocial. I agree on the poetry but one of the best profiles I ever saw was simply the Winnie the Pooh poem Cottleston Pie.
I prefer that people not say they are nice, let’s hope you are anyways. I share the peeve about “just ask” or like statements that assume I will want to get to know you, even though you have provided nothing to talk about at first, and seem arrogantly to assume I am dying to unwrap the riddle that is you and your bland profile. A good profile is an invitation to a conversation, based on something more real than how your avi looks.
I am very amateur at taking pictures but I have taken to offering newbies I meet to help them out with one to use until they get something better.