I’m a HUGE fan of Twitter. Not only do I tweet regularly, but I am constantly praising Twitter to my friends and colleagues, pushing them to join if they haven’t already. I’ve made some great contacts through the site. It’s truly a tremendous resource.

But last Friday, I made the biggest mistake ever.

I tried to change my Twitter avatar.

Little did I know at the time that this would be a never-ending, ongoing, frustrating task to achieve. Deleting my avatar was the easy part. But uploading a new one? Yeah, forget it. I’ve tried uploading a new one through a PC, a Mac and through three different browsers. I’ve checked, double checked and triple checked the image size, resolution, format, etc. to make sure it complies with Twitter’s settings. And I e-mailed Twitter support.

They e-mailed me back last night with a link to a page I’d already checked out about 100 times over the weekend, looking for updates or comments on the issue. They say I’m not the only one having this problem. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t make me feel better, Twitter. Thanks though.

I’ve been attempting to upload a new one going on four days now. Honestly at this point, I would be fine with this or this or even this as my avatar. I just want SOMETHING.

The fact of the matter is, if more than 100 million users participate in the Twitter discussion, one would think uploading a picture would be the smallest of Twitter’s issues. Clearly, it’s one that has yet to be tackled. For now, I’ll anxiously, impatiently sit here trying to upload my picture 137 times a day (no exaggeration), until it works.

And this got the juices flowing…

Does this mean I’m too dependent on social media? Do I put too much emphasis on my online profile?

Okay, yes. I’m completely dependent on social media. I place a pretty big emphasis on my online profile because it’s one of the first ways I get in front of my readers, contacts, colleagues, followers and friends. But is it the end of the world when I’m faceless?

For example, when you have a new coworker join your office, what’s one of the very first things you do? Chances are, you Google her. In today’s online world, if we aren’t transparent and there for everyone to access, we are missing out on a huge piece of the puzzle. Right?

So, is it okay to place so much importance on your online profile? Are we too dependent on social media? I’d love to hear your thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any words of advice on uploading my Twitter avatar, let me know because I’m going crazy over here.

- L