Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app's About page?

Posted by boggles on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @06:38PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm wondering what to put on the About page of my app. I'm debating whether to put up a friendly looking smiling photo of myself. As much as I'm a private person, I feel that my app requires that I indentify myself personally with it. Any tips for how to do this?

( 17 comments | 10 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by edw519 on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @06:53PM (#882312)

In case you want to maintain your privacy, do what I did...

           \/\/\/\/
         /         \
        /           \
       /             \
   /\_/     0    0    \_/\
  |                       |
   \/ \      |_|      / \/
       \             /
        \  \-----/  /
         \         /
          \_______/
            |   |

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by tptacek on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @07:27PM (#882380)

Get a haircut!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by mattdennewitz on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @10:09PM (#882593)

that unkept youngster might be onto something!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by unalone on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @08:22PM (#882451)

This is why you teach yourself to have a distinct writing style. It gives you the personality and the privacy.

When I launched a site in February with a friend, we got a lot of email feedback complimenting us directly for our About page, which had snippets like "Rory is pretty much certainly a douche" strewn about it. We also asked for feedback haiku, and received so much we couldn't post all of it online. All that without a single personal tidbit about either of us.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by Travis on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @07:54PM (#882415)

There is some research to show that a "real world feel" is a critical component of a website (from the "What makes a website credible" study from a few years back. Having a picture of you will go some ways towards doing that. I put my pic on my website.

If you do this, please make sure to put a good pic up -- no self-taken camera phone bluriness, please. Remember, you want to personalize the experience but still seem professional.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by herrherr on Friday October 16, 2009 @05:09AM (#885045)

Looking at the analytics of all the websites I have build (50+) the most visited page is always the "team" or "about" page. So there seems to be a desire for getting to know the people behind the company name. Yet this doesn't prove that it is a good idea ... just saying :-)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by JangoSteve on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @10:22PM (#882609)

It's hard to give a definite answer without knowing who your target market is or who you are. If you are a B2C, connecting personally is good, everyone loves the underdog startup. If you are a B2B, it may be difficult to land large contracts with that sort of persona.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by hopeless on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @07:07PM (#882340)

Nope, it's everything except my face. Cameras are great for hiding behind ;-)

http://www.shutterscouts.com/about.html

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by pbhjpbhj on Thursday October 15, 2009 @05:48AM (#883066)

Just a fwiw. Your idea sounds like a good one but your features page is a bit lacking. You give images of other things but no images of your app, I couldn't even see if it's browser based or downloadable, nor what platform I need to run it off.

Your homepage mentions SMS, your features page doesn't.

I'm thinking it's something along the lines of a map based system where locations for future shoots are tagged, probably with some sample images as reminders + details of the conditions I'm looking for. Then there must be a calendar view showing any likely conditions matches and giving me a list of possible shoots? Plenty there for some more visuals. You've avoided overuse of text but the imagery (whilst lush) doesn't aid my understanding of your offering and isn't helping to lead me to sign up. Is it free?

Oh, apologies I tried "sign up" - you should label the website as a preview or state "sign up by email" if that's what you want folk to do. A great start, best.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by joshuarr on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @08:39PM (#882479)

Here u go: http://imgur.com/PnJVJ.jpg

no charge.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by tptacek on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @09:50PM (#882571)

If you are one person, no. Don't promote the fact that you're a one-person shop.

If you're multiple people, plenty of startups (Kayak and Meebo come to mind) put pictures up.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by fjabre on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @07:24PM (#882375)

There are some people who won't like it. I guess it depends on the type of marketing you're doing.. but I'd have a hard time buying an iPhone is I saw Jobs' face on the back.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by joeythibault on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @07:14PM (#882353)

Nothing wrong with adding personality to your site. I don't think it will detract or add anything to it, unless you're either a supermodel or the fly.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by kyro on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @09:30PM (#882548)

We opted for very stern and serious photos.

http://looklookbuy.com/about

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by sync on Thursday October 15, 2009 @01:25PM (#883801)

Funny, but I hope you're working on the quality of your search results. This is horrible: http://looklookbuy.com/search?query=canon+powershot+g10&...

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by xiaoma on Thursday October 15, 2009 @04:21PM (#884197)

I found you guys likable after seeing that page!

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Re:Ask HN: Do you put a smiley photo of yourself on your app... by mattdennewitz on Wednesday October 14, 2009 @10:16PM (#882599)

your second cto (second cto? there are only three of you!) looks like he's about to cry.

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