Recently I’ve been following the comments for a David Airey Blogging Transparency post. I noticed that many commentors had sidenotes relating to David’s blog no longer using gravatars in the comments. I just have a couple things on my mind relating to the use of gravatars in blog comments.

What is a Gravatar?

A gravatar is a globally recognized avatar. Quite simple it is an 80×80 image associated with an e-mail address. It’s primarily used in blog comments to associate the commenter with a picture of him/herself whenever they comment. For example when I write a comment that uses gravatars, my jeremyadamdavis@gmail.com e-mail address has this gravatar associated with it.

Jeremy Gravatar

Nothing fancy and since I’m usually the one behind the camera its about the only one I could find quickly that wasn’t posed.

So thats about it. When I post a comment and if the blog uses gravatars this image is shown next to my comments. If you want one your own, do so at the Gravatar main site.

So what’s not to like about Gravatars?

I believe that the idea of the gravatar is very easy to like, but there are also some good points about not using them.

  • Gravatars are distractions

A few people mentioned this point. Personally, I have never felt “distracted” by them, but to each his own. I know David mentioned that one reason he removed them is so that his responses to comments can be more easily found since he is the only commenter that has an image next to his comments. I like that idea, but the same effect could be gained by having a different comment background color for the blog author’s responses.

  • Gravatars slow down sites that get numerous comments

This too seems like a valid point. David mentioned that articles with 30 or more comments really seemed to take a hit from the gravatars. I know FreelanceSwitch uses gravatars and I haven’t felt much of a delay on some of their 100+ comments posts, but I am on a much wider bandwidth than most.

  • Gravatars could be a barrier to the comment’s influence

Basically, your appearance might make people value your comment less. Maybe you read a well-written comment that mentions tips about how to save money or balancing your budget and the commenter’s gravatar depicts a disheveled 14 year-old kid. I don’t know about you but I’m far less-inclined to take financial advise from someone whose biggest bill is a movie ticket and the occasional milk shake splurge.

Why you should be using Gravatars

Although there are those negative reasons to use gravatars, I am still keen on the idea and think that they should be used. Here’s a few reasons why.

  • Gravatars help to brand yourself

Ironically the post that made me consider the benefits of having a gravatar was this Avatar Branding post by … David Airey. This is something that I believe will be taken more seriously as blogging is transferring from a hobby to a business tool. I’ve been reading/listening/watching plenty of Darren Rowse material lately, and he often mentions the leveraging of blogging as a brand.

By having a standard image associated with all your online activity people can more easily track you. That being said, people can more easily track you. So be careful what you say or do. I know that personally I try to make sure that my web presence is always something that I won’t regret later. I don’t want a future client/employeer to do a Google search on my name and find some off-color comment that could hurt my chances of working with them.

I could digress more about branding, but basically as people see your gravatar throughout the blogs, your brand will increase. I know I can think of a couple people’s gravatars off the top of my head and they have a greater mindshare to me than someone without a gravatar.

  • Gravatars give a personal feel to the comment

Seeing a picture of the commentor adds a little bit of humanity to our text-based blogging environment. I typically don’t read commentor’s names so when I see a picture of a middle-aged female next to a comment I can associate a gender and get a better perspective about the comment. If your blog consists of multiple people or is based on a theme instead of personal such as PutThingsOff, then use the blog’s logo. Again going back to the branding aspect.

  • Gravatars promote the community atmosphere

In this socially networked age, people are giving out more personal information than ever before. Ten years ago the idea of gravatars wouldn’t have worked. People were afraid that if their name or picture was put out on that Internet thing that their soul would also be considered forfeit. A blog with gravatars has a more comfortable, laid-back feel to it than one without.

Final Comments

I feel like much more could be said about the pros and cons of gravatars, but I don’t know how much more you could take having me drone on about an 80 pixel square image.

Can gravatars work for you?

Whether you are considering this question as someone debating about adding them to your own blog or someone who doesn’t have a gravatar yet, I believe the simple and right answer is it that it all depends. I personally believe that most of the negatives mentioned could be solved through better design and having more thought put into it. But I wouldn’t dare to make a blanket statement that “Thou Shalt Use Gravatars”. All that I ask is to consider it. Try to find a better way to use them. Weigh your own pros/cons about the situation and decide.

I’m sure there are many more positives and negatives about this that I’ve missed, so I’d love to hear your thoughts about the use of gravatars.