Well for instance, SweetQ, if I were facinated my your avatar I might be compelled to click on it to see a larger image of it. (Assuming that you're image is resize to some degree) That links me to your profile which then finally provides the link to the larger image of your avatar. In the process, I've just boosted your profile view by one.
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed