Using Gravatars
08 Aug, 2009 by James L. Clark in Blogging, Branding, Business, Marketing, Tools & Software
The fact we humans are all innately narcissistic. For the most part we are attracted to ourselves; we love to see our faces in the mirror, on the wall, on the television, and online. And why shouldn’t we, after all, there’s only one of us.
But what’s more than that, we’re visual creatures; images make it easier for us to communicate, and they also help us develop relationships. It’s for this very reason that you may want to plaster your mug all over the internet-for branding purposes.
Yep, even us lowly bloggers, tweeters, and Facebook addicts can brand ourselves by using a consistent image that becomes familiar to those who are crazy enough to read our rants, musing, and incestuous micro-posts about the absolutely nothingness that composes our daily existence-all over the global sphere that is the Internet.
One way to assure consistency, and that does matter, is to use an avatar. And one way to use the same avatar globally is to sign up to Gravatar (that stands for globally recognized avatar). A gravatar is simply an avatar that is assigned to an email address which allows social networking sites that are so wired to use it as a core function of their system. You sign up, enter your email address, and your avatar is automatically populated from the gravatar database.
For me, I want it to make life easier. It really is that simple. I also want, when I post or comment on a blog, for example, my avatar to pop up so people can see me and come to recognize my face as being associated with the content I’ve just shared-however mundane and trite it may be.
Check it out yourself at http://en.gravatar.com.
