'Bikini pictures on Facebook won't help you make friends'
Online profiles featuring over the top poses, bikini shots or pictures of cars immediately spark a negative opinion on strangers, a new study has suggested.
Online reputation management firm Reputation 24/7 conducted a study and examined several aspects of how opinions are formed both online and in real life.
"It's difficult not to judge someone whether you meet them face to face or see their online presence," the Daily Mail quoted Reputation 24/7 as saying.
"Seeing a profile on a social networking site will only tell you so much about a person so it's easy to jump to conclusions, especially if an individual has outlandish pictures or expresses particular strong views online," the study said.
"Information about you can be accessed by thousands of people so it's important that your image online enhances your personality and presence and not hindering it," it said.
The examination of how opinions are formed also included 18 different categories of photographs.
Photos that were likely to lead to a positive opinion were either a respectable picture of themselves or a shot within a sensible-looking group of friends.
A shot taken of themselves was also seen as positive as was a wedding picture and pictures including children or shots taken on a beach. Images with negative connotations were photos of cars, and bikini shots which have a "loves herself" feel. Among other 'negative images' were angry photos and shots where the subject is seen with alcoholic drink.