Icon Tip of the Day

Sometimes in IM world, there's a need to have an "adult" conversation. For example, you may need to pseudo-swear someone out. Or perhaps you'd like to tell an off-color joke. Either way, if this is you, you need to first check out the buddy icon of the person you're about to IM. Sometimes people will put a picture of their child, or one of their baby pictures as their buddy icon. Therefore, if, as in the image below, you're trying to swear at Pappy, who just so happened to feature a photo of an ugly baby, innocent "walkers by" will think you are actually swearing at a child. So be careful.

Another example below. Let's say Matt replaces his icon with one of his idols, the Olsen twins. (Not a huge stretch from reality).

If you tell him an off-color joke like this, people will be like, "Eww, you sicko. Why are you saying stuff like that to Mary Kate (or Ashley) Olsen?" Then they will ask you which one it is, and who can tell them apart anyway? You get my drift. It could get bad. Tell your friends with a penchant for misleading buddy icons to knock it off!