What the heck is a Gravatar and why do I need one?

According to gravatar.com it's a "globally recognized avatar." A way to be recognized across multiple websites when you post on blogs and forums.

It's a free service and your gravatar automatically shows up on enabled websites when you post messages - based on your email address.

Why use this service? Simple - so you can be easily recognized. Human beings are wired to recognize and remember faces, so people will typically remember your avatar/face before they remember your name.

Using the same avatar everywhere is crucial for personal branding consistency, so a service like Gravatar makes a lot of sense.

Here's my Gravatar: