The Facebook community has become a hotbed of cultural change in the last several years, and it was hit with another surprise when a local college student, Normat Hewman, uploaded a new profile photo last February.
Normat is an average looking, everyday guy who likes having some drinks with friends and watching cat videos on YouTube. If you ask most interested parties, they would say that he is a 6.5 out of 10. However, what happened on February 8th was something inspiring for even the uglier gentlemen out there. He explains his experience as follows.
“So I woke up that Saturday and checked my phone in case someone needed my advice on something or there was a cool party going on or something. There wasn’t, but I realized that my buddy has uploaded all the pictures that we took the week before. I found one which I thought looked okay, but I popped it into Photoshop just to lose a few pimples.”
That was when an idea struck him like artistic lightning.
“The photo turned out fine, but I wanted something that would show off my sophisticated side. So I made it black and white.”
He further explained how his “clear 8 out of 10 picture” turned into a perfect 10 out of 10. Normat said that the key to a successful profile picture lies in the complexion. Are your teeth yellow? Do you have pimples? With one simple filter, you can make yourself look like someone else
Likes piled on Normat’s profile picture following the incident, and Facebook became a burden to carry. The notifications alone made it impossible to listen to music, and he could not turn them off even if he wanted to. Not that he would, of course.
Normat’s popularity not only showed in the number of likes, but also in the quantity and quality of the comments below. One of the comments said “Baby I’ll treat you like my homework; I’ll slam you on the table and do you all night long.” Although it would’ve meant more to him if it came from a girl, Normat is still happy with the amount of attention he got.
Researchers are investigating this method’s applicability to people who rate closer to 5 or even 4 on The Scale. If successful, it could change social relationships across Facebook, Tinder, and even Skype calls going forward.
Independent research is also being conducted into the feasibility of other visible spectra, including deep fuschia profile pictures and infrared cover photos. With Facebook beginning to support gifs, sound files, and Playstation 2 games as profile pictures, the opportunities for people to reinvent themselves on social media are becoming truly limitless.
