What is an Avatar and How Can I Make an Avatar?

What is an Avatar?

An avatar is your visual representation online, more commonly known as a profile picture. Avatars have been in existence for over two decades in the virtual world, starting on online forums and chat rooms, eventually become mainstream with instant messaging and social media. Learn more about the history of Avatars on WikiPedia...

All websites have different specifications for their avatars, but they are usually square and less than 200px x 200px (px = pixels) in size. Your avatar can be as simple as a photo of yourself or your company's logo, or as unique as a caricature or cartoon of yourself.

While they may seem just like a fun accessory online, avatars are an important part of social media. Besides just making it easier for people to recognize you or your brand, HubSpot conducted a survey using their Twitter Gradr tool which found that Twitter users with a personalized avatar had 10 times more followers than those without an avatar!

So what kind of image is best? We're asked this question quite a bit from people just starting out on social media. If you're engaging on behalf of a brand, then using your company's logo, or a photo of your location or a product you're well known for, is best. If you're just representing yourself, then a photo of yourself is of course the way to go! Though we recommend you actually do depict yourself, especially if you're looking to network professionally. A picture of your new puppy or your kids doesn't really strike a professional tone! And of course, swap them out every once and a while! A new avatar online is like a new hairstyle in person and can give your followers a refreshed interest in you!

Where Can I Make an Avatar?

Certain websites and social networks allow you to edit and crop your photo before you set it as your avatar, but others don't have that capability. If you find yourself needing an avatar but lack the editing ability, check out these great avatar resources:

mypictr

mypictr boasts a simple interface that helps you quickly and easily create an avatar or profile picture. You can chose a preset size for a specific network like Twitter or Gravatar, or input your own custom size.

A screenshot of the mypictr avatar creation tool

A DoppelMe avartar of me

doppelme

DoppelMe allows you to create your own cartoon avatar, complete with clothing, accessories, backgrounds, and more. This is great for when you're feeling a little playful!

4.23.2011 Update: Check out this great list of 12 Sites To Create Cartoon Characters of Yourself from Hongkiat.com.

Pixlr and Picnik

These are just two of several great online photo editing sites. If you really want to edit your photo (ie: adjust the contrast, rotate it, etc.) then you might want to consider some of these sites. It's like having the most basic features of Photoshop in a free web tool!