I read this article, which talks about the value of an online writer’s avatar. Think of it as a brand, or logo that help people identify you.
The article by Ben Yoskovitz was inspired by this article, which talked about ways to be more “successful” at Digg, including the use of an avatar.
These two articles inspired me to write the following commentary, which I posted as comments.
The fact of the matter is that many readers will not do a detailed content read. They might not have the desire and they probably don’t have the time to do so. They will develop preferences for content submitted by certain people, learn to recognize the avatar/photo, and then use that avatar as a visual cue to attract their attention to that poster. I guess I’m agreeing with Elmer on this.
It’s unscrupulous (and pathetic, IMHO) to steal someone’s image or else mostly copy it for your own, because you’re clearly trying to “steal” their business, so to speak. So I agree with Fortune Fox.
Content should always be king, but we need to recognize that we’re all fighting for the viewer’s attention and these visual cues help. That’s where branding comes in. Yeah, most of this stuff is a hobby to us, but we’re all looking for an audience, right?
The thing is, unless we go through some legal hoops, we don’t actually own our avatars. I can’t claim to own mine, I can only hope that the image that I use will help people recognize me amongst other talented and prolific people.
Having written all of that, I’m now thinking of changing my on-line avatar to an original image. I’m kind of riding on the popularity of someone else’s creation, you know?
