Have you ever left a comment on someone’s blog and noticed that some people have their pictures show up, & others have some sort of generic default image?
A Gravatar is a Globally Recognizable “profile picture”, a.k.a. Avatar. Hence the name G-R-Avatar. It is a way for you to have a profile picture that will automatically show up wherever you identify yourself using the email account you’ve assigned to it. In other words:
“Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog.” (via Gravatar home page)
This is part of the Becoming A Social Media Rockstar series. Check out the rest of the posts by clicking HERE.
Once you have a Gravatar, anytime you leave a comment on a blog, or send an email (as long as the site is Gravatar-friendly) people will have a face to go along with your name (or email address).
Why do you need a Gravatar, you say? Well, it’s simple to do, will give you a more professional web presence, and will increase the likelihood that people will interact with you (because it makes you seem more like a real person). You do want people to engage with you right? Just checking. It will especially come in handy if you follow one of the future posts in this Social Media Rockstar series. 😉
To get yourself a Gravatar, simply visit Gravatar.com, sign up with your desired email address, pick a password, & upload a respectable image of your smiling face. Smiling is just a suggestion. You can upload whatever you want, but just make sure that it represents you the way you want to be perceived. If you upload a picture that looks like someone just kicked your puppy, don’t be surprised if nobody talks to you.
An added cool feature is that Gravatar actually requires you to give your picture a “rating” from “G” to “R”, just like how movies are rated. I love this feature. That way administrators of websites can restrict to a certain extent. Here on my blog, your Gravatar must be a PG or below. You can also upload multiple photos and manage multiple email addresses.
Have you gotten your Gravatar yet? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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