Making creative use of profile photo space on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels is nothing new. It’s just become a bit more advanced.

Human beings thrive on visual association (I assure you that the hot spot on nearly all Match.com profiles is not the “Interests” category). It’s natural. We look at a Twitter profile photo, then read the bio. We glance at Facebook friend’s photo, then dig in on where they went to school. In that sense, the social space continues to evolve as marketers dig up new, fun and creative ways to utilize visuals on social media sites to deliver messages.

Earlier today, I caught this tweet below by @BrentDPayne that utilizes a QR Code for his profile photo. I’m sure Brent isn’t the first to implement this tactic but I loved the creativity. Brent recently joined 435 Digital as SEO & Social Media Director and utilized the QR code to drive followers to this article about his hiring announcement.

Smart. Very smart.

Not only creative and fitting for the job title but keeps followers and new followers alike intrigued. It also gives Brent an easy updated bio outlet without needing to continually tweet about his new gig. Furthermore, QR Codes are incredibly versatile and there is no reason Brent couldn’t leverage this asset in a blog post, as his Facebook or LinkedIn profile photo and even printing on a small run of business cards during the transition.

In another example, Facebook’s recent changes to user profiles, has prompted a variety of opportunities to put the new layout to use. My old coworker, @tylerschnaidt, opted to get quite clever with his own tagging scheme. Check out a few screenshots of his efforts.

I love seeing examples like these in action as my mind immediately drifts towards brand frameworks and applications across client projects and campaigns. As a digital strategist, I typically take these little nuggets and store them away in my arsenal for later use in a strategy plan or brainstorming session.

Great work Brent and Tyler!

Are you seeing any other creative uses of profile photo properties? Post links below!