What is Gravatar, Why You Need and How to Use it

“What is Gravatar?” does this ring any bells for you? Or is it just an alien word to you? Have you ever heard the word avatar? Well, that sounds familiar, right? An avatar is an icon or thumbnail image that represents a person on the internet. So, you practically know what is an avatar. Gravatar is pretty similar to the word avatar. Let’s get into the details now!

What is a Gravatar?

WordPress uses a special type of icon for representing its users. These icons are unique avatars. Such a unique avatar is called a gravatar. Gravatar simply stands for the globally recognized avatar. It is no different than an avatar. Usually, the avatar is shown next to the name of a person on any given platform over the Internet. The only difference is that, once you are registered on it you don’t need to register again and again for other WordPress websites or on Twitter, Tumblr, etc. When you post comments on other WordPress sites using your Gravatar registered email id, your Gravatar will show up there automatically. Thus, making you say bye-bye to multiple logins on various WordPress sites. Further, it helps you create a unique identity among all WordPress bloggers.

History

Gravatar was founded by Tom Preston Werner in the year 2004. After that, the founder became busy with the creation of the Gravatar 2.0 version. Therefore, its old version was not maintained at all in the meanwhile. The new version Gravatar 2.0 was released on 16th February 2007. It came with a lot of new features like editing the online image, providing two Gravatars with each account. And a special paid premium plan that provided unlimited Gravatars and email accounts with each account. Automattic acquired it on 18th October 2007. Therefore, it became free of cost for its users. And integrated it in WordPress.

How to Create a Gravatar Account?

Creating a Gravatar account is a really simple process. The sign-in process is now complete through WordPress.com. All you have to is follow these simple steps. 

Step1 – First open the en.gravatar.com website

Step2 – Then, click on the WordPress.com sign-in option present on the top right corner of the screen.

Step3 – Once you have done that, the WordPress.com login page will appear.

Step4 – If you already have a WordPress.com account just put in your details and it will create a Gravatar account for you. Just in case you don’t have a WordPress.com account then create one. 

Once you are ready with your account, you can add a picture to your account. Now that picture will appear as your avatar on all Gravatar integrated websites.

Therefore, the creation process is complete now. Simply use this Gravatar linked email id anywhere in the WordPress ecosystem and your Gravatar image will start to appear.

If you are running a WordPress website it is highly beneficial that you offer this functionality. Though most of the standard WordPress themes already have Gravatar integrated into them. Just in case if it is not integrated then you can always install a plugin or can add it through manual coding as well. 

Importance of Gravatar

The importance of Gravatar is way more than what you can imagine. With it, you just have to make a single account. And with that account alone you can interact/comment on various platforms. Thus, eliminating the need for multiple accounts for interaction on the various platforms. If you ever wish to change your avatar it becomes very simple with Gravatar. As you have to change the avatar just in one account and the rest will follow. 

Further, it helps you build your own identity, reputation, and credibility. Usually, when people see the same avatar appearing across various platforms. They start to recognize you. Therefore, help to establish your identity. However, continuous efforts also build your credibility and reputation with time. Additionally, in some cases, Gravatar also helps in bringing a good amount of traffic to your website. It also increases the trust among your visitors. This alone shows the importance of  Gravatar for website owners, bloggers, and users. 

Except for Gravatar a good website also allures a lot of traffic. To build a good website you require a good website builder that supports WordPress and provides you with tons of pre-designed themes for building an alluring website. Personally, I have been using  TemplateToaster for building websites for many years now. Therefore, I will highly recommend it when you are looking for a WordPress website builder. As it is flawless with a truckload of templates and gives extensive support for Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, etc.

What is Need to Use Multiple Gravatar Accounts?

The main objective of having a Gravatar account is to create a particular identity. This can be the identity of an individual or company on various platforms. The benefit of this identity is just to develop a reputation, credibility, trust, and brand for itself. But sometimes there turns out to be a need for multiple accounts.

The reason is pretty simple, you can use multiple accounts for various purposes. A single account only provides one avatar per email. Therefore the need for creating more accounts is there. Every account is created with a new email id. Multiple accounts can have multiple uses. As one account can be used for public relations, another for eCommerce, one for company use, another one for personal use, etc. So, that’s you may need multiple Gravatar accounts for various purposes.

Limitations of Gravatar

Like everything else in life, Gravatar also has its limitations. The only thing worth knowing will be whether its benefits overcome its limitations or not. It is a globally represented avatar but still isn’t used universally. Especially, the biggest giant in the world of the internet Google doesn’t support it. On the other hand, many popular websites like Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, GitHub support Gravatar. Whereas there maybe be many other websites that won’t support it as well. And for them, you need to make an individual account to interact on each of those websites.  Thus, it can be said that its benefits overweigh its limitations for sure.

In Conclusion

Yes, it is worth the hype. If you are planning on starting an online business, blog, or brand. Looking to establish your strong reputation and identity on the internet. Then, Gravatar is the service you should go for without a second doubt. It helps you become a familiar face on various platforms. Therefore, creating your own independent identity. 

Ain’t the process of building a new identity on every new platform looks hectic to you. It’s not just time-consuming but hard to maintain as well. Thus, I will strongly recommend you to make an id on Gravatar right away. This is one such decision that you won’t regret at all.