Engl. transl.: Profile picture: tells more than words

From the beginning of the 2000s there is an ever growing need of people to share experiences and information with their community - and also to share themselves. What could be better proof of the significance of this trend that by today almost every second Hungarian is a member of Facbeook, currently the most popular social network site of the world. The diffusion of social networking sites opened up previously unheard dimensions in the communication between people. For those young people, who were raised on the internet, being present online, consuming and producing digital content is an everyday practice. However, there has not been a single, extensive research on the self-representation of the Hungarian late Y generation on social media yet. This research maps the main aspects of online identity through the profile pictures on teenagers. Moreover, it discusses what patterns the member of this generation follow when they choose their profile picture and how they represent themselves on these pictures.

The study showed that Hungarian young people are dominantly use pictures of real people as profile picture, usually alone and less pictures in an ID picture style. It was also characteristic that they rather used staged pictures than spontaneous ones. The pictures usually do not reveal important information on the users (hobbies, work etc.) and characteristically picture a conformist identity. "Mindemellett a profilképek kutatása során nyert információk alapján megállapítható, hogy a vizsgált fiatalok inkább konformidentitás megjelenítésére törekedtek. Lázadó identitásra utaló jeleket alig lehetett felfedezni az elemzett 364 fotón." (Galántai Orsolya: Profilkép: többet mond minden szónál, in: Médiakutató, Volume XVI/3, pp: 67-79, p. 78) 'Moreover, we can conclude by the results of the research of the profile pictures that the included youngsters rather aimed to picture a conformist identity. Pictures showing signs of a rebellious identity could hardly be found on the 364 profile picture included to the study' (Galántai Orsolya: Profilkép: többet mond minden szónál, in: Médiakutató, Volume XVI/3, pp: 67-79, p. 78; translated by Anna Galácz)