Now that we are entering a new world of dealing with the Coronavirus, more people will be interacting online, rather than in person.  And since that is the case, you will want to have a photo of yourself appear online automatically when you comment.

You may have noticed that on many blogs or websites, a little photo of a person shows up beside their comment. But sometimes, all that appears is a gray ‘mystery man’ silhouette. Boring!

However, you can have your image attach automatically to your comments on WordPress blogs and other websites using a “Gravatar”.  A Gravatar is your little avatar that shows up when you comment on your website or other websites.

An “Avatar” is an image that represents you online—a little picture that appears next to your name when you interact with websites.

A “Gravatar” is a Globally Recognized Avatar. You upload it and create your profile just once, and then when you participate in any Gravatar-enabled site, your Gravatar image will automatically follow you there.

(from https://en.gravatar.com/support/what-is-gravatar/)

Here’s an example of photos in the comments:

Your Gravatar is an image that follows you around the web appearing beside your name when you leave a comment on a blog or website. It helps identify who you are on blogs and web forums.

What’s Great About a Gravatar & Why You Need One?

 This short video explains more details about what a Gravatar is and how to set one up. 

As you can see, there’s a lot to love about a Gravatar:

  • It’s a free service (you can open a free account by going to www.Gravatar.com)
  • It’s quick and easy to set up
  • Upload your picture ONCE and it will appear automatically when you comment or post on a Gravatar-enabled site
  • You can upload multiple images and swap them out instantly
  • You can set a rating if needed
  • If you use WordPress.com, you can sign up directly from your profile page without having to go to Gravatar.com

Gravatar is not Only for Commenting!

Besides commenting on WordPress sites, Gravatar images are also used in many other applications.  For example conference use them to display the speakers for their event.
See image below:

gravatar images on a speaker page

So don’t delay, sign up for a free account and set your gravatar image ONCE, and then it will follow you wherever you go on the internet!

Simple Video: How to Create Your Free Gravatar

Need more help in getting started? I’ve created this short 9 min video to walk you through, step by step, how to set up your Gravatar image

 

You can also find step-by-step instructions on how to sign up for Gravatar here:
https://en.gravatar.com/support/how-to-sign-up/ (but the video above explains it better)

Try it out! Set up a Gravatar account. Then, show us your new Gravatar by leaving a comment on this post below.

This article was originally published in February 2009

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