I found that I was immediately “welcomed” by a whole lot of people who wanted to deal with me but who had nothing to do with my line of work. I feared that this would become another conduit for Amway entrepreneurs and the like, and I have no time for that kind of thing, so my profile soon became a kind of “go away unless…” type of thing, which shouldn’t be necessary. My LinkedIn profile is not similarly designed to chase people away.

Also, they insisted that I post a pic, and I don’t like doing that; see
http://www.tania.co.za/collective/blog.nsf/dx/20080624_MyGenius
I have pictures of myself which I share with friends (who already know what I look like) at Facebook, but I just don’t like to bring mugshots into business. The great thing about the Web is that it creates a way for people to relate in a way different from face-to-face contact, and face-to-face may follow, but the emphasis is at first on mutual ground. Pictures attempt to simulate the offline world and I think that is a pity, because it confuses the issues. Unless, of course, your appearance IS your business (e.g. when you are a model, clown or other performer).