Why Your Avatar is so Important.

Avatars are the thing- the image that you want to project to the internet world. They can be different for different sites or the same one can follow you wherever you go, giving you, as a writer, a bit of personality. You probably have one or more yourself; a cute animal picture, an old college photo with your drinking buddies, your business icon or a more formal headshot. Most people are unaware how important their avatar can be. An avatar is not only an expression of self; it also dictates the first impression people have of you. If you are using an inappropriate avatar in a certain situation, you could potentially lose readership and therefore business from potential clients. It's worth having a closer look at your avatars - are they saying what you want them to?

Essentially, an avatar is an expression of some part of yourself. It can range from a simple user name, through to a complicated picture or icon representation. This avatar can be used in blogs or social media sites. It is even possible to create a 3-D representation of you for use in computer games.


A Gravatar (globally recognized avatar), is an avatar that you can use on all websites that are gravatarly enabled. Regardless of whether you choose to use an avatar or a gravatar, whatever you choose to represent yourself is going to define you. It's very important to choose your avatar with care.
Social media is one of the key areas in which people use avatars. Given that most people use social media as a way to meet new friends, the first impression that your avatar creates can be particularly important.
· Facebook or MySpace
Social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace are full of people with avatars. Most of these avatars portray 'fun' party pictures, with lots of very drunk people enjoying yet another glass of vino. While this is a great party image, is this really the image of yourself that you want the world to see?


Nowadays, with the popularity of social media, more and more employers are Googling potential employees and checking out their Facebook or MySpace pages. Due to the nature of those pages, the employers are limited to what they can see in way of information. But what can they see? Of course, they can see the potential employees avatar, the one showing them being great party people, not necessarily great employees.

You could definitely argue that what an employee does with his or her free time is optional and really shouldn't affect their job prospects. However, if you consider that an employer looks at hundreds of applicants and is keen to find the most responsible and capable employee. Based on an innocently partying avatar they could easily conclude that you might be coming to work hung over; a conclusion which could put you out of the running for that perfect job.

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