Avatars have a psichological effect cause its medicaly proved that people like to recognize things vizually first rather meaning creating a picture in their brain not just words. 90% of the ppl use their right hemisphere more than the left which is in charge of pictures and visions so YES AVTARS ARE VERY MUCH USEFUL CRUCIAL EVEN
An avatar on social media sites is a MUST. And also on forums. Apart from your personality, it also conveys to some extent your aspirations and intent
It's a great way to brand your logo, Remember one of the most important aspect of branding Repetition Repetition.
Avatars is indeed useful...some people don't feel confident enough to let their real appearances be known by others.
As they say 'A picture is worth thousand words!'... I think Avatar can be best used to send your message across very efficiently or even utilized to increase your brand recall value with the least possible effort! Regards, RightMan
For me Avatars is not necessarily using in websites or blogs because you are hiding your own personality. But I don't think others have the same impression like me. But for me that is my impression. It is better to use your own image so that you are trusted by others. ---------------------------- agentsofvalue site
You must be careful in selecting your avatar from the onset. This is because the avatar will soon be associated with your identity as you get known in the web. And sure, either you must choose to display your own pic or, if you don't prefer to do it that way, choose an avatar. People recognize and remember you through your avatar. Leaving that out can harm you in the sense that people do not associate any trust with people who don't "show up". This is something like having a brand logo.
@blackpaw I agree with you. Its something that probably relates to the reader more than anything else. its interesting to see how many avatars r available for use.