Unified identification on the web

As time goes on, everything on the Internet improves with systems coming together as one. The next improvement to come is the standardisation of an authority for blog posts, forum pseudonyms, news articles and social media posting. For years if you were to post on any site, you would have to re-create your profile and everything that goes with it including your Avatar. Things are changing and a standard has now been put into place.

Google Plus

When Google Plus launched, it was an obvious swoop to try and compete with Facebook and Twitter. The biggest problem with Google Plus was the confusing design and the fact it tried to enter a market place without offering anything new and exciting. It did have new features, but they were features that nobody wanted.

If there was one good thing to come out of Google plus, it was the introduction of an identity for posting around the web. You could link your G+ account to websites, blogs and much more with a unified tag.

The birth of Gravatar

Gravatar is the latest craze for social media and identification on the web. Some of you may not know, but when you post on forums, blogs or comment blogs the little picture that you upload with your profile is known as an Avatar. Once you know that, it’s pretty obvious where they got their name. Gravatar is simply as method to upload your Avatar to one place without the need to create multiple profiles around the web. If you update your photo, then everywhere that you have made comments with your Gravatar account will also be updated. It’s the perfect example of a system becoming unified.

Where will it become used?

While usage is somewhat limited at present, that will change over the coming year or so. The approach of using multiple means of identification is cumbersome and dated. The general consensus is that all platforms will take it up, but the most promising at present are reader comments within Wordpress.

The idea eventually is that you will be able to build your social profile around the web with the ability for a trail to be created.

Competing Platforms

The Gravatar approach is nothing new, there are numerous competing platforms fighting for the crown. Unfortunately, it is going to really depend on the market place and how it is taken up. If anything is certain, if history has taught us anything it’s that things can change at any moment.

You only have to look at something like MySpace to see that. Sites like Facebook are holding their own by keeping users on their toes.