NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – You may have not given much thought to what image you use on various social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. You may even use the same one for all the sites. But CNET’s Sree Sreenivasan, a social media expert, has some suggestions that may get you thinking twice about doing that.

Sreenivasan says the photos matter because people make instant decisions about whether or not to connect with you based on the photo. While that seems obvious on dating sites, it matters also in other social media areas as well.

Sreenivasan urges social media users to make sure their profile photos are recent and recognizable so if people meet you in real life, they’ll recognize the cyber version of you.

As for proud parents eager to show off their children in their social media profile pictures, Sreenivasan suggests not doing it. Sreenivasan says it’s better to show a picture of you and only you, and to leave the photos of you with the children – or just the children themselves – to other areas of the social media site. By extension, Sreenivasan also suggests not using landscapes, sunsets or any other image that is not you as your profile picture.

Sreenivasan also urges social media users to make sure that they have – and use – a profile photo. Many people don’t even bother to add one.

For more tips, watch the video below.

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Sree Sreenivasan is CBS2′s technology expert, appearing every Wednesday morning at 6:50 am to discuss ways to save you time, money and aggravation. He is also a social media blogger for CNET News. He is a professor and Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. You can find him onTwitter and Facebook  and on his personal site. E-mail your questions with “CBS New York” as the subject line.