10 Ways to Take Facebook Pictures Like Teens

This post is dedicated to Jackie Beyer who gave me the idea for this post with one of her brilliant Public Speaking class speeches (her pictures are cool though).

I do A LOT of talks and speaking engagements to kids, middle schoolers, teens, tweens and High School students about being safe online, cyberbullying and social networks.  One topic that always goes over well (afterall I have to give them something ot laugh about a little…and I never mind if they are laughing at me) is my imitation of teen’s typical profile picture.

If you need a quick primer on what social networking is, just check out my Growing Up Online series!

If you have ever taken a look at your kid’s or someone else’s kid’s profile picture you might recognize the following:

1) The Oops-I-Am-Sexy

I think teens especially have these pictures up that are deliberately sexy, but they are trying not to look deliberately sexy.  I took a few for your amusement.  This picture usually involves lip pouting, low-cut tops, and lots of make-up.

2) The Backs

Boys love this one.  It is just usually a series of people walking together and you can only see their backs or butts.  (Backs are usually a group of boys, butts usually a bunch of girls).

3) The Oh-I-Am-So-Awesome-I-Don’t-Need-To-Look-At-the-Camera

I love these pictures, I think I have one on my Facebook page right now.  Teens love to do them when they are clearly looking at nothing, they just want a good side profile pic.

4) The Lets-Get-As-Many-People-in-This-Picture-As-Possible

This is when there is a group of about one thousand friends all squeezed into a single frame–piled on the couch, in a mac built-in iSight or on a bed.

5) The Zoolander

You know this one! No smile, dead serious, very intense.  But because they are trying to look dead serious and intense, it usually ends up just looking funny.

6) The I-Am-Brooding-and-Dark-But-I-Am-Still-Sexy

This is a picture of usually hair hanging in front, no smile and modelesque…without, of course, trying to look too modelesque.

7) The PermaLaugh

Soundtrack to this picture: “Oh my goodness you are so funny, no way funnier than me, oh my gosh I have never laughed so hard in my life, LOLOLOLOLOL, my face hurts I am laughing so hard.”

8) The I-Am-Jumping-And-Look-Really-Really-Happy

Why do teen girls like to jump so much in their pictures?

9) The Badly Lit Picture…and I am probably sexy but you just can’t see me.

There are so many profile pictures of teens that would probably be really good (or just one of the above) but they are so poorly lit that you can barely make out it is a person.

10) The I-Have-My-Mouth-Open-in-Every-Picture-And-Still-Look-Sexy

There are some teens that literally never close their mouth.  It’s like they are saying “hey” in every picture.

I have most every type of picture on my profile I am sure from when I am a teen (and early twenties…oops), all out of love, which does your teen have?

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