Most people know WeChat is the most popular social application in China and its profile picture is an essential part for any WeChat user. Yet, most young people don’t like to put their own self-picture as their profile pictures, perhaps because of privacy issues.

So, what kind of pictures do young people use? After taking a class about introducing the reasons that student use different pictures for profiles, I classified the pictures.

It is easy to see that cartoons and anime are popular sources for profile pictures. Most cartoon pictures are not familiar to us, however they are cute and give people a good impression. And the reasons some people use anime characters is they like them for their introductions, even if few people can tell where the characters come from. Few people use their real pictures or pictures of their girlfriends or other people. And some of the selfies are back views or are processed so it is difficult to be recognized by other people.

And the DIY pictures are creative, but it takes time to make a very original and wonderful picture. Scenery pictures are also beautiful, as they are natural pictures and famous landscapes shot by professional photographers. Using super stars is a great choice too, while star chasing is a common activity among teens. People who use the default picture means that they have not changed a picture since they registered onto WeChat. Some say they don’t use WeChat very often. Others say they are too busy to pick a picture, or they don’t know what to pick for their profile.

All in all, just like what the great philosopher Bacon said, “Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep.” For myself, I want to say “People who choose scenery for their picture are uninhibited, cartoons kind, anime free, real person not fake, DIY creative, internet games happy, stars joyful, animals friendly, default picture easy.”

Everyone has their own opinions on what to choose for their profiles. Yet what they choose is not important. Rather it is their expression that truly matters.