Tag Archives: Avatar

Gravatar anyone?

What the heck is a Gravatar and why do I need one?

According to gravatar.com it’s a “globally recognized avatar.” A way to be recognized across multiple websites when you post on blogs and forums.
It’s a free service and your gravatar automatically shows up on enabled websites when you post messages – based on your email address.

Why use this service? Simple – so you can be easily recognized. Human beings are wired to recognize and remember faces, so people will typically remember your avatar/face before they remember your name.

Using the same avatar everywhere is crucial for personal branding consistency, so a service like Gravatar makes a lot of sense.

Here’s my Gravatar:

Why your avatar matters

Simple fact – Your avatar is the first impression you make with any of your online profiles.

Dan Benjamin at Hivelogic zeroes in on how a great avatar can help you can stand out, especially on sites like Twitter:

“A great avatar will help people remember you instantly. And you should use it everywhere, across the board. Use it on your blog if you have one (you should). Use it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, everywhere. Even if people don’t automatically remember your name or your website, they’ll remember your avatar and make an association. When they see it again later, on another network or site, they’ll be more likely to pay attention, to friend you, and maybe remove a few of those degrees of separation.”

Read more of Dan’s article.

A great avatar is a solid foundation for your personal brand.