Automattic Acquires Gravatar

October 18, 2007 | Posted by Matt

The best ideas are often the simplest. (At least in hindsight.) The idea of globally-recognized avatar, or Gravatar, struck me from the first time I heard it. Of course I should be able to have my avatar wherever I go! Of course email is a great way to key it! Of course there should be an open API for any platform!

Watching how Gravatar changed and evolved over the years I saw a service with great adoption and potential, but facing some classic problems of scale that successful sites are often lucky to run into. Scaling happens to be something my company, Automattic, is very good at, and as we started chatting with Tom Werner of Gravatar it became obvious there’s a lot of potential for combined forces, and I also saw a lot of parallels to Akismet, a product that does one thing, does it well, and has an open API so any platform can use it.So we worked out an arrangement to transfer the code and service from Tom to Automattic, and here we are. Here’s what we’ve done so far over the past few days:

  • We transferred the Rails application and most of the avatar serving to our WordPress.com infrastructure and servers.
  • Avatar serving is now more than three times as fast, and works every time.
  • We moved this blog from Mephisto to WordPress. )

Basically, we did the bare minimum required to stabilize and accelerate the Gravatar service, focusing a lot on making the gravatars highly available and fast. However our plans are much bigger than that. Here’s some of the things we’re looking to add and improve on the service:

  • We’re going to make all of the Premium features free, and refund anyone who bought them in the last 60 days.
  • Move the gravatar serving to a Content Delivery Network so not only will they be fast, it’ll be low latency and not slow down a page load.
  • Take the million or so avatars we have on WordPress.com and make them available through the Gravatar API, to compliment the 115k already here.
  • From Gravatar, integrate them into all WordPress.com templates and bring features like multiple avatars over.
  • From WordPress.com, bring the bigger sizes (128px) over and make that available for any Gravatar. Currently Gravatars are only available up to 80px.
  • Allow Gravatar profile pages with Microformat support for things like XFN rel="me" and hCard.
  • Develop a new API that has cleaner URLs and allows Gravatars to be addressed by things like URL in addition to (or instead of) email addresses.
  • Rewrite the application itself (site.gravatar.com) to fit directly into our WordPress.com grid, for internet-scale performance and reliability.

Of course like with all our products, the majority of development is going to be driven by you, so if you have any great ideas be sure to leave them in the comments so we can work them into our roadmap.

Thanks again to Tom Werner for creating such an awesome service and the Automattic team for getting it moved over so quickly.

« Updated Croppr & Stats
Features that were previously ‘paid only’ are now free for all! »

374 Responses »

  1. Rodolfo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:10 am

    nice.

  2. Photo Matt » Gravatar Sold Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:27 am

    [...] Automattic has bought Gravatar. Om sees it as a larger trend, but to us it was just a good fit. « Rails Bashing Comment » [...]

  3. tgpo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:36 am

    I’m excited about the future and look forward to new and exciting things to come.

  4. Armen Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:43 am

    wow…that’s quite impressive! Nice work guys.

  5. Gravatar now part of Automattic - raanan.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:47 am

    [...] Overall it’s a real good fit for us, and I’m excited about our future plans. More details here. [...]

  6. Edward O'Connor Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:51 am

    Congrats Tom!

  7. kakesh Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:51 am

    good.hope it will give all of us a nice feeling.

  8. Fajro Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:52 am

    Cool!

  9. Ollie Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:55 am

    Congratulations. I look forward to the future of Gravatar under the new direction. So far, so good.

  10. Gravatar ahoy! « Toni’s Garage Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:55 am

    [...] 17th, 2007 · No Comments News flash: Automattic has acquired Gravatar. Congrats to Tom Werner for building a great service. Gravatar is a great fit for our expanding set [...]

  11. roycifer Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:58 am

    marriage made in wordpress heaven!

  12. Andrew Kumar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:00 am

    This is great! I like the micro formats integration.

    How about openid support / integration?
    One step closer to unified digital identification!

  13. robinadr › Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:01 am

    [...] Yess. Yess. Automattic (a la Matt Mullenweg) has acquired Gravatar, a “global avatar service,” which has been what can only be described as a [...]

  14. Fahmishah Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:04 am

    great to hear that dude.!

  15. Rick Beckman Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:05 am

    Congrats, Matt & crew! :)

  16. jeygokul Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:06 am

    Thats nice :-)

  17. Automattic Has Bought Gravatar | Tebaboom Dot Org Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:06 am

    [...] is true that Gravatar is sold and Automattic acquires Gravatar.I do not know how much Automattic bought is but the most important thing is now Gravatar is under [...]

  18. Balaji Dutt Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:09 am

    Wow that was.. unexpected.

    I’ve decided to stop using gravatars on my blog - partly because I’ve become a fan of a stripped down look, but I definitely do like the concept.

    Congrats to Tom.

  19. Chris Harrison Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:09 am

    This is excellent news. I look forward to seeing great things from this pairing in the future.

  20. Carlos Leopoldo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:09 am

    Congratulations for Gravatar

  21. Alenônimo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:16 am

    Cool!!!

  22. luke dorny Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:18 am

    Hoooray!!
    OpenID?

  23. vanpelt Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:19 am

    It is exciting to see a great service get even greater… ROCK ON!

  24. Gravatar Sold To Automattic | Joseph Scott's Blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:22 am

    [...] Gravatar has been sold to Automattic. [...]

  25. ChinaNom Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:26 am

    Gently, Automattic build a strong self-contained sns portal. I believe in the model of opensource binding with commercial act developed by WordPress. I think, Meebo could be next?

  26. marcoss Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:30 am

    Great news!

  27. impropio Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:33 am

    coooool!

  28. adspigot Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:39 am

    Congrats Matt, cool aquisition and I can’t wait to see how well it fuses with wordpress in the future.

  29. Gravatar es adquirido por Automattic — yukei.net Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:40 am

    [...] de ver un anuncio en el blog de Matt Mullenweg (AKA Photo Matt) un enlace que anunca la compra de Gravatar por parte de [...]

  30. David Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:42 am

    Innovation. That keeps things going. And, very cool about making the premium features free. With an avatar that can travel, I may need to make a new one.

  31. Automattic compra Gravatar { defmay } Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:43 am

    [...] compra Gravatar Automattic acaba de anunciar la adquisición de Gravatar, un servicio excelente que estuvo a punto de morir varias veces pero que por fin logró [...]

  32. Automattic 收購 Gravatar @ 天佑的自由天地 Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:56 am

    [...] Gravatar blog 得知 Automattic 收購了 Gravatar，有了 Automattic infrastructure 和 servers [...]

  33. Josh Betz » Automattic Acquires Gravatar « Gravatar Blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:13 am

    [...] Automattic Acquires Gravatar « Gravatar Blog. This is a great thing. In this article Matt touches on some of the things that they will do to make Gravatars even better. The idea of Gravatars has always been good, but for a while now using their service hasn’t been as reliable and as fast as it should be. Automattic will do great things. Bookmark to: Trackback This Post [...]

  34. Jenny Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:14 am

    Wow Automattic has everything now. Now to implement it into wordpress along with mybloglog.

  35. Douglas Karr Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:21 am

    And now they are installed on my site! Well done!

  36. Andrew Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:37 am

    Nice going :)

  37. Ehab Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:38 am

    Yeeii !

    All premium features FREE ! ZOOO ! YEEE

  38. Daniel Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:42 am

    I have to admit. My WordPress developer friends understand the potentials of tying in the metaverse concept quite well in principle.

    Very nice move, and congratulations!

  39. seriocomic Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:44 am

    Wow, for a while there I thought the service was dying a slow death. While not eminently useful, it certainly is a fun thing to see and have around.

  40. www.enchilame.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:51 am

    Gravatar ha sido comprado

    Gravatar, el famoso sitio para manejar avatares ha sido comprado. Esta vez no ha sido Google, ha sido Automattic (http://automattic.com/) la compañia de Matt Mullenweg, el creador de WordPress. Esto ocasionará muchisimas mejoras en gravatar: Los serv…

  41. Viper007Bond Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:55 am

    Wow, awesome!

    When I read the headline “Gravatar Sold”, I was all worried it was to some annoying corp. like Yahoo or something. However, very happy to hear that it was Automattic. This should help tons with both the serve speed as well as integration between WordPress and Gravatars.

    Woo hoo! :D

  42. What’s an Avatar? What’s a Gravatar? How do I install them on my blog? | The Marketing Technology Blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:58 am

    [...] added Gravatars to my blog now that I know Autommatic has acquired Gravatar. You should integrate them on your application or blog as well - and it’s quite simple to do! [...]

  43. Automattic Acquires Gravatar | Ehab Mehedi Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:03 am

    [...] are some notes from gravatar’s official blog: We’re going to make all of the Premium features free, and refund anyone who bought them in the [...]

  44. Fepe Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:13 am

    Great acquisition.

    I’ll be looking forward for the changes now.

  45. Automattic Acquires Gravatar » IAMWW Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:15 am

    [...] Automattic Acquires Gravatar. [...]

  46. BoltClock Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:22 am

    Congrats! There’s a lot to look forward to with this acquisition!

  47. Automattic buys Gravatar | YugaTech | Philippine Technology News & Reviews Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:27 am

    [...] We’re now back rollin’ the global avatars again. Thanks to Automattic. [...]

  48. Silveira Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:33 am

    That’s good. I like Automattic and WordPress.

  49. chris.H's codex Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:36 am

    Automattic Acquires Gravatar

    在 Dashboard 上看到 Automattic 收购了 Gravatar。曾经很喜欢 Gravatar，甚至想过给以前的 PJblog 加入这个好玩的东西，不过后来越来越慢，越来越慢，实在是受不了了……所以在更新这个 theme 的时候…

  50. -=Discobeats=- Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:43 am

    [Gravatar] Automattic übernimmt Gravatar

    Wie ich gerade im Gravatar-Blog lese hat Automattic, die Firma welche die Hand über WordPress hält, den Avatarservice Gravatar übernommen.
    Gravatar ist ein genialer Service welcher die Möglichkeit bietet einmalig einen Avatar upzu…

  51. Automattic ha comprado Gravatar › CalinSoft Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:54 am

    [...] Robinadr me entero que Automattic ha comprado Gravatar, ya Matt Mullenweg lo anunciaba en su blog, tambien se anuncia que los servicios de pagos que [...]

  52. Rob Cameron Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:58 am

    I’ve known Tom even before he had the original vision for Gravatar while at home one night, and I can tell you this really has been a labor of love for him. The fact that Automattic came to him proves his insane nighttime ramblings were genius after all!

    Although, like anyone whose web app is purchased, he’ll no doubt become a crazed Web 2.0 playboy, making the rounds at the elite San Fran IPO parties and hobnobbing with Jeff Bezos soon enough. So give your kudos now before he’s too good to bother reading this blog. ;)

  53. jun Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:08 am

    I agree with Andrew Kumar re OpenID.

    What if we could have all our favorite apps/sites/socialmedia/networks/emails under one site, all in one page - with just one ID……

    And all in open-source!

    Maybe we’ll finally have world peace at last.

  54. cintia Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:27 am

    Haven’t used Gravatar for quite some time already. But am quite excited to know Automattic acquired it :) Will keep track on any gravatar udpates :)

  55. WordPress Gobbles up Gravatar | BlueFur.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:28 am

    [...] see this purchase as a good thing for Gravatar users as all the premium features will now be free and because it will be owned by WordPress it will be [...]

  56. Mark Penix Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:33 am

    Great news :) The speed up will be great all on it’s own.

  57. Automattic acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:47 am

    [...] is now brighter, because Automattic, the company that made WordPress (which powers ForeverGeek) has acquired Gravatar and will perhaps help to turn it into a more reliable [...]

  58. Details about the fantastic news about Gravatar and Automattic « Unisyc.2 Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:51 am

    [...] with your e-mail address (for use with Gravatar-enabled blogs and sites for comments, etc.) has just been bought by Automattic, maker of WordPress and, of course, [...]

  59. Mantis Bug Tracker Blog » Blog Archive » Automattic (WordPress) acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:54 am

    [...] struggles with scalability.  It is great to see that Automattic (the company behind WordPress) has acquired gravatar.  According to the announcement, the service has already been migrated to WordPress servers and is [...]

  60. Blogcosm Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:04 am

    Cool tool for blog comments: Gravatar (just acquired by Automattic)

    Automattic (the folks behind WordPress) just acquired Gravatar, ("Globally Recognized Avatars"). (Hat tip: GigaOM.) What is it?

    an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblo

  61. _ck_ Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:06 am

    They were using Rails? OMG no wonder they couldn’t scale…
    Oh well, solved now I guess!

    The API was non-functional after the the 2.0 “upgrade” will it just work now?

  62. microformats.dk » Læsetip - microformats Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:08 am

    [...] Mullenwegs firma Automattic har købt Gravatar. Gravatar (globally recognized avatar) er webservice, hvor du får en 80×80 pixel avatar, som [...]

  63. blauereiter Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:12 am

    Nice fit really, Gravatar sounds just right with WordPress.

  64. Now With Gravatars « WordPress.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:13 am

    [...] If you’d like to find out more about what the heck is or comment here’s the announcement post on the Gravatar blog. [...]

  65. extremusmilitis Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:15 am

    congrats to automattic on acquiring gravatar, now our avatar will be globalize more ;)

  66. Automattic übernimmt Gravatar at notizBlog - a private weblog written by Matthias Pfefferle Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:19 am

    [...] Umzug auf die WordPress.com Server hoffentlich bald ändern wird. Außerdem sollen, laut Weblog, auch die Premium-Features für alle kostenlos bereit gestellt [...]

  67. Usersky Daily News Network » Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:23 am

    [...] Mullenweg announced today that Automattic, the maker of ultra-popular blog platform WordPress, has acquired universal avatar [...]

  68. Automattic kauf Gravatar.com | Frank Helmschrott Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:44 am

    [...] anderen wohl eher weniger: Automattic, der Betreiber von WordPress.com und Akismet hat Gravatar.com gekauft. Pro-Features sind jetzt kostenlos und evtl. gibt es bessere [...]

  69. me Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:48 am

    >They were using Rails? OMG no wonder they couldn’t scale…

    Agreed, that explains it. Had I known they were using rails, I would never have bothered. Rails is only useful as a hobby - and a short term one at that.

  70. Automattic Acquires Gravatar « Thirstan’s Aardwolf Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:50 am

    [...] read more | digg story [...]

  71. Stas Sushkov Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:52 am

    OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

  72. museditions Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:58 am

    I would love to take my Lyre with me wherever I go. There are strings attached :) Congratulations on what looks like a nice acquisition.

  73. Neomeme » Automattic,Gravatar, and the Elusive Unified Identity Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:02 am

    [...] and millions of other blogs), is that Automattic, the maintainers of the WordPress project have acquired Gravatar, the simple tool popular on WordPress blogs that creates a unified avatar image for you [...]

  74. Stephen Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:30 am

    Wow. I am IMPRESSED. Thanks for doing this!

  75. Christian Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:32 am

    this is ghue-reat!

  76. btard Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:34 am

    That’s some good shit. Awesome news.

  77. Bram.us » Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:44 am

    [...] - We’re going to make all of the Premium features free - bring the bigger sizes (128px) - … and more Spread the [...]

  78. outeasy Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:47 am

    Well alrighty then!

  79. cronies Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:09 am

    Cool¡

  80. Pixel y Dixel » Automattic compra Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:10 am

    [...] Automattic compra Gravatar: la empresa responsable de WordPress.com, WordPress.org y Akismet ha comprado Gravatar, que como sabes genera avatares de los autores de los comentarios de muchos blogs. Artculos relacionados :Yahoo compra del.icio.usMicrosoft compra iViewGoogle compra GrandCentralCuando un linuxero se compra un Mac miniGoogle compra Meetroduction Clasificado bajo:Internet / Compras / Msica / minipost Comentarios : [...]

  81. Just Auto’s here! » Blog Archive » Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:12 am

    [...] three times as fast, and works every time. * Were going to make all of the Premium features freeread more | digg story Permalink Trackback Comments [...]

  82. Gravatar 3.0, Powered by Automattic | SYP Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:13 am

    [...] 3.0, Powered by Automattic One of the best news today — Automattic acquires Gravatar. From the new owner of Gravatar, Automattic’s Matt [...]

  83. Basic Thinking Blog | Gravatar: endlich übernommen Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:15 am

    [...] der wohl ältesten Plugins für WordPressianer namens Gravatar wurde von der Firma Automattic übernommen (Automattic steht hinter dem WordPress-Projekt). Ein kleiner Hoffnungsschimmer für den [...]

  84. ulysses Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:20 am

    I never imagined Automattic and Gravatar would marry, but now that I think of it, it does make sense. Also, I was itching to comment just to see how my Gravatar looks like since I forgotten about it.

  85. Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:33 am

    [...] You can check all the new features on the new WordPress based Gravatar blog [...]

  86. Automattic adquiere Gravatar - Un Blog Más Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:40 am

    [...] Pues bien, la noticia está en que Automattic, la empresa que está detrás de WordPress, ha anunciado que ha adquirido Gravatar. [...]

  87. Adriaan Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:41 am

    Great news guys! Slow loading gravatars was really annoying…

  88. Automattic (Wordpress.com et Akismet) acquiert Gravatar - Oueb-Revue Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:46 am

    [...] L’annonce sur le forum de Gravatar [...]

  89. » Automattic acquista Gravatar » WordPress Italy Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:47 am

    [...] costo dell’operazione non si sa però la prima cosa che ha fatto Matt è stata quella di rendere free tutti i servizi [...]

  90. Jess Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:04 am

    So now is the time to get one, I suppose :-)

  91. jhave7 Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:05 am

    Seems like a nice fit indeed…

  92. Telagon Sichelputzer - Gravatar geht über den Ladentisch Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:08 am

    [...] alte Esel ist verkauft. Der mitunter recht schlecht performende Gravatar, eines der webzwonulligen [...]

  93. Automattic Acquires Gravatar : mediacyber.net Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:20 am

    [...] by B3n on 10/18/07 in Blogging, Internet, News Wow! Automattic (Matt ‘WordPress’ ;) just acquired Gravatar! Congrats, [...]

  94. Automattic (WordPress) compra Gravatar Loogic.com Blog Archive Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:20 am

    [...] Más información en el blog de Gravatar. [...]

  95. automattic購併gravatar « Jiunn’s mind + information collection Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:25 am

    [...] automattic購併gravatar Posted on October 18, 2007 by jiunnmind gravatar方面的消息，Automattic方面對這件事的說法。 [...]

  96. Folletto Malefico Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:33 am

    The actual API is very clean an intuitive… please keep it, okay? ;)

  97. Gravatar is now part of Automattic » Paperholic Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:49 am

    [...] development corporation Automattic - key person: Matt Mullenweg - acquires Gravatar. Here’s the announcement post by Matt Mullenweg on the Gravatar blog (October [...]

  98. » Erneut Probleme mit Gravatar.com (update) » DeadPixel - Portfolio und Weblog von Moritz Gießmann Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:52 am

    [...] (also z.B. mehrere Gravatare mit einem Account) kostenlos werden sollen, wie man im Gravatar-Blog nachlesen kann. « « Größere Umbauarbeiten  | [...]

  99. kL Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:57 am

    While you’re at it, how about creating classes/plugins that cache gravatars and serve them from the same domain as sites?
    That should save you a lot of bandwidth and might be a bit faster for end users (no extra dns lookups or redirects).

  100. Leo Flandriae Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:07 am

    Waiting to see my Gravatar appears the first time. In the meantime transtlation made to dutch/Flemish/Afrikaans: “idicoon”. As I am striving to help survive my mothertongue. Idicoon thus.

  101. Automattic купив Gravatar at Андрій Рущак в Інтернеті Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:09 am

    [...] Повний список умов можна подивитися тут. [...]

  102. Automattic приобретает Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:12 am

    [...] код Gravatar’а перенесли на сервера WordPress.com, пообещав, что там он будет работать в 3 раза быстрее, и без сбоев. [...]

  103. Graser10 Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:24 am

    Hey!
    Thanks, keep it u wordpress!

    ~*~Graser10~*~
    The goofy goober! :mrgreen:

  104. The Zephyr » Blog Archive » Gravatardienst geht zu Automattic und erweitert kostenlosen Funktionsumfang Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:46 am

    [...] mal über Gravatar.com berichtet, nun wechselt der Dienst in die Hände von Automattic. Wie das Gravatar-Blog berichtet, wurde bisher der gesamte Dienst mit allen Funktionen auf die Serverinfrastruktur von Automattic [...]

  105. Blognitive Dissonance » Automattic Purchases Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:02 am

    [...] Now Automattic has purchased Gravatar … [...]

  106. Woeful Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:03 am

    Nice, an “Open” avatar!

  107. Renata Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:12 am

    Oh, great! Now I can have all my e-mails gravatarized?

  108. Wordpress Gets Some Cool Avatars - ShoeMoney® Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:20 am

    [...] Gravatar has been acquired by wordpress parent company Automatic. This was a very cool pickup for them imo. I really liked gravatar and wanted to use them back in the day but they had some serious issues with uptime so I kind of gave up after a while. [...]

  109. Teknoblogia Indonesiana » Blog Archive » Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:24 am

    [...] Automattic, a group of talented people behind great projects and services like WordPress.com acquired Gravatar. It seems that there are many promising great features on Gravatar. One of them is the removal of Premium membership. All Premium features will be available for free. Learn more about the coming features offered by Gravatar on their blog post. [...]

  110. Ashish Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:36 am

    Great! WordPress + Gravatar = Awesome. [GravyPress?]

  111. meneame.net Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:44 am

    Automattic compra Gravatar

    Automattic, la empresa detrás de WordPress compra Gravatar, el sitio especializado en avatares de usuarios por su email. Gravatar tuvo serios problemas para aguantar el gran crecimiento que tuvo (en Menéame lo tuvimos que dejar de usar y porque no ag…

  112. Relentless Media » Wordpress Gets Some Cool Avatars Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:44 am

    [...] Gravatar has been acquired by wordpress parent company Automatic. This was a very cool pickup for them imo. I really liked gravatar and wanted to use them back in the day but they had some serious issues with uptime so I kind of gave up after a while. [...]

  113. Leo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:58 am

    So far so good. So just let see my gravatar ;-)

  114. Automattic compró Gravatar | PuntoGeek Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm

    [...] través del blog de Matt me estoy enterando que Automattic, la empresa de la que es parte, ha comprado Gravatar, el servicio tan conocido que permite asociar un avatar a una dirección de email para que [...]

  115. clint Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:01 pm

    Thats very cool they are going to be cdn’d now. I’ve used them since day one, but I had taken them off all of the sites I work on except one because the service was frequently down and the massively slow page loading.

  116. Norm Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:12 pm

    In the article it states that premium services are now free, I just signed up but was prompted to pay for multiples email address gravatars. Is it just not implemented yet?

  117. Matt Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:13 pm

    Norm, making the premium stuff free is on the TODO list, not the DONE list, but I expect it to happen within the next few days.

  118. BorkWeb » Automattic Acquires Gravatar! Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    [...] a surprising move, Automattic has acquired Gravatar, which was announced this morning in Gravatar’s new WordPress installation. This breathes life into a quality idea that had [...]

  119. TwisterMc Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:30 pm

    This is excellent! It’s good to hear that Gravatar is alive and kicking. Can’t wait for all the new features.

  120. Mr Gray Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:33 pm

    Congratulations to Auttomatic and Tom. Gravatars and WordPress just make sense.

  121. Doufer Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    Good news!

    The performance increase is good for those who is in other countries.

  122. Automattic 買下 Gravatar at Gea-Suan Lin’s BLOG Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:48 pm

    [...] 在 Twitter 上看到 Matthew Mullenweg 提到 Automattic (最有名的「產品」是 WordPress.com) 買下 Gravatar：Automattic Acquires Gravatar。 [...]

  123. Gravatar racheté et intégré au monde Wordpress Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    [...] et assurant le développement de WordPress, WordPress.com, bbPress et Akismet, vient d’annoncer le rachat de Gravatar et son intégration dans ses serveurs mais aussi dans WordPress.com. Ce changement devrait dans un [...]

  124. Tobias Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    ok, now it the time to test my own gravatar. i didnt trust the service before so i never used it.

    <– there it should be now, beautiful :)

  125. resist - cleveland design Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    [...] Automattic has acquired Gravatar. I think only good things are going to come of this, and hopefully we’ll see a more widespread adoption of Gravatar. Avatars are already loading three times faster, and the premium service features are now free. [...]

  126. Café da Manhã » Blog Archive » Gravatar junta-se à Automattic Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    [...] famoso serviço de avatars “globais” junta-se assim a um portfólio que inclui o WordPress, a consagrada ferramenta de anti-spam para blogs akismet, o [...]

  127. Automattic acquisisce Gravatar per renderlo gratuito e disponibile a tutti Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    [...] “A volte le idee più semplici sono le migliori”, scrive Matt Mullenweg sul blog di Gravatar. [...]

  128. Automattic compra Gravatar | Denken Über Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    [...] Automattic compra Gravatar, el servicio que te permite poner avatares en WordPress, y algunos otros servicios, es ahora parte de la empresa que hace WordPress, Akismet y otros. Es MUY interesante el análisis que hace Om Malik sobre la compra de este start-up y un par más muy chicos. [...]

  129. David Kaspar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:31 pm

    Congrats Tom… let’s see this great idea taken to the next level!

  130. David Kaspar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:31 pm

    Oh… is this my Gravatar ID?

  131. Andres Santos Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:45 pm

    Finally! This should be the universal avatar platform for all webservices! Considered implementing an API for remote avatar uploading?

  132. Automattic Acquires Gravatar; now faster, more reliable and more universal! by Travis Seitler (secondmouse) Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:50 pm

    [...] read this post by Mullenweg on the Gravatar blog. I had no idea this was in the pipes, but man, am I [...]

  133. Automattic compra Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:56 pm

    [...] Enlace: Automattic Acquires Gravatar [...]

  134. Gravatar被Automattic收购 | Ge Xiaofei Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 1:59 pm

    [...] 从Matt的博客上得知了Automattic收购Gravatar的消息。相信使用wordpress博客的朋友都会有所了解Gravatar，如果你还不了解的话，下面是个简单的介绍。 　　Gravatar(个人全球统一标识)是globally recognized avatar(直译为”全球认识的头像”)的缩写。它起源于在网上各处论坛中所广泛使用的头像(avatar)，随着Blog的广泛普及，在各处Blog 的留言上也相继出现了头像，为了方便用户在四处的Blog广泛留言的同时可以拥有统一的头像，http://www.gravatar.com/ 提出了Gravatar这个概念并开始提供这项服务。这项服务概念上十分简单，就是把个人email地址与头像作为捆绑(请登录 http://www.gravatar.com申请帐户，上传照片即可完成)，当你再在支持Gravatar的网站留言并使用你的个人email时，头像就会出现在你的留言旁。 [...]

  135. Automattic compra Gravatar — vivaestudio Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:29 pm

    [...] que usamos y diseñamos blogs: Matt Mullenweg, creador de WordPress entre otros, anunció hoy en el blog de Gravatar que su empresa Automattic compraba por una cantidad no revelada este servicio de avatares gratuitos [...]

  136. PJ Brunet Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:32 pm

    Yes, there’s so much potential there for those little pictures, as we know: Myspace, Facebook, MyBlogLog, whatever.

  137. iaoj Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:38 pm

    Thank you Matt for Gravatars
    WP is really going to be excited day by day.
    You guys are best
    Keep up the good work
    Thank you and Good luck for WP
    Best Regards for u

  138. Victor San Martin Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:42 pm

    cool! it’s very good news!

  139. Shirley Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    Congratulations to both Matt at WordPress and Gravatar. I’m interested in seeing how the look of WordPress will change–for the better, I’m sure, even though it’s rather neat the way it is. Again, thank you for this free service. I sincerely appreciate it.

  140. Automatic adquire Gravatar.com : MUIOMUIO.NET Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    [...] A noticia oficial pode ser lida no blog do gravatar. [...]

  141. Guillermo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    Congratulations.

  142. What makes you happy ? » Little Pictures Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    [...] sort of dropped off the planet for me. No idea why. But now they are back (not that they left) and back in a better way. Like favicons though I like [...]

  143. Chittaranjan Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    Groovy!

  144. Kuroi Tenshi's darkness Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    Gravatar voll auf Speed

    Irgendwie schn, Gravatar tut’s zur Zeit wirklich schneller als zuvor - wenn das wirklich wegen des Aufkaufs ist, dann vielen herzlichen Dank. Die Avatare bei uns in den Kommentaren waren nie schneller da. Und das knapp vor dem vernichtet werden - den…

  145. Stefano Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    Now, please, openID on both Gravatar and WordPress…
    btw, great news!!

    Stefano

  146. chrisjacobson Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    Very cool news!!

  147. Automattic Acquires Gravatar | Sea Slugs! Anime Blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:17 pm

    [...] about it. Basically, Automattic (a company comprised of many of the big WordPress developers) has taken on Gravatar and has already done some tweaking to help the service scale better. They’re adding some [...]

  148. Israel Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:26 pm

    awesome, i cant wait.

  149. Seraphim - Gravatar cumparat de Automattic Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    [...] serviciu Gravatar a fost cumparat de catre Automattic, si odata cu acest transfer, s-au anuntat multe modificari (in bine) care vor [...]

  150. hardrockhideout Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    I am anxious to see how this will impact WordPress. Very cool!

  151. Eric Marden Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    And I just went premium to support all my emails!

    This is great news. I am glad I choose to support gravatar, and not mybloglog or any of the others. Because i agree. One thing. Do it the best. And you will succeed.

    You guys rock. And hard.

  152. Jamie Thingelstad Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 3:40 pm

    Congrats on the purchase guys. This is a nice compliment to the existing properties and provides a tool for the blogosphere, similar to Akismet.

  153. Automattic schluckt Gravatar | Bloganbieter.de Blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    [...] WordPress-Entwickler Automattic und Betreiber des beliebten Blogdiensts WordPress.com hat die Firma übernommen, welche das Plugin Gravatar entwickelt hat. Das Gravatar Plugin ermöglicht die Darstellung eines [...]

  154. 2.0weblogs.net/work Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    Great idea this Gravatar, good for all those involved, hip! hip!

    -Thunk Different.

  155. Evisu Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    I really don’t know if this is one of the best idaes that has come to blogs… but thats just me lol.

  156. redheadrev Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    Oh, yay!

  157. Bitelia » Automattic compra Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:50 pm

    [...] la empresa que desarrolla nuestro querido WordPress, acaba de anunciar la compra de Gravatar, el servicio que relaciona una imagen a nuestra cuenta de correo y nos [...]

  158. redheadrev Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 4:50 pm

    And look it really worked! Usually my gravatar never shows up! Yipee!

  159. Great news for Gravatar Users! « Readhead Reverend Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    [...] Automattic Acquires Gravatar [...]

  160. Dekut.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    Automattic Acquires Gravatar

    The best ideas are often the simplest. (At least in hindsight.) The idea of globally-recognized avatar, or Gravatar, struck me from the first time I heard it. Of course I should be able to have my avatar wherever I go! Of course email is a great way to…

  161. Azam Marketing (Azam.info) Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:38 pm

    This is great news. Congratulations!

  162. Gravatar caching plugin « Marc-André Cournoyer’s blog Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:43 pm

    [...] found out that Gravatar was bought by Automattic, makers of Worpress. Here’s the news from their blog, TechCrunch, Mashable and [...]

  163. Christian Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 5:54 pm

    Nice move!

  164. Puleen Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:07 pm

    Excellent news. Gravatar implemented on my site.

    Cheers!

  165. Automattic compra Gravatar : Ideas Geek - [Actualidad - Tecnologia - Internet] Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    [...] compañia de Matt Mullenweg, creador de WordPress; ha adquirido Gravatar, el sitio web que nos permite poner avatares basados con una identificación de nuestro correo [...]

  166. Gravatars become Automattic : Losing it[1] Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 6:28 pm

    [...] Tom and bought Gravatar. Automattic founder and WordPress lead developer Matt Mullenweg explains on the Gravatar blog, which has now moved to wordpress.com. More to the point, he’s moved the service to [...]

  167. al.garcia Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    i think is great, now wordpress-gravatar plus openID is the best thing could happen to have an online ID all over th web. now i think what i just said might sound kinda silly, but you get what i mean

  168. » Matt sale de compras deUgarte.com Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    [...] le Petit Musee: Matt, el creador de WordPress, sali de compras con Automattic, su consultora, y se trajo Gravatar. Algo empieza a cocerse. En breve veremos ms posicionamientos de este estilo. Objetivo: ocupar los [...]

  169. Patrick Havens Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    Good News. I was wondering how it was going to go. With so many issues int eh past, and all the work that Tom put into it, to get it scalable & affordable… Glad to see Automattic stepping up to the plate. I’d love to see some stats about how much the service is used once its all up and happy.

  170. Ingrid Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    That is what I call great news.

  171. Eric Monse Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:00 pm

    The best ideas are the simplest, but sometimes complexity is required.

  172. Turulcsirip - kobak Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 8:19 pm

    [...] megvette a gravatart: http://blog.gravatar.com/2007/10/18/automattic-gravatar/ Lehet, hogy gyorsabb lesz majd?! « előző | kobak — 2007. 10. 18. [...]

  173. jez Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:03 pm

    big-size avatars are absolutely cool and a must-have, I can only endorse the 128px ones!

  174. No more hiding, get your gravatar! | Affenheimtheater | blog.affenheimtheater.de Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:10 pm

    [...] Service wurde von Automattic (geistige Väter von Projekten wie WordPress, Akismet etc.) übernommen und ist somit wieder wunderbar und ohne ewig lange Ladezeiten benutzbar. Wer also nicht länger [...]

  175. El dueño de Wordpress compra Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    [...] Leo en Loogic y Error500, que por cierto son 2 de los blogs que más me gustan, que Automattic (dueños de WordPress, el software que uso para publicar este blog) ha comprado Gravatar por una cantidad sin confirmar que no han hecho publica en la nota oficial. [...]

  176. stuning Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:38 pm

    Nice job, :)

  177. se7en Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:39 pm

    I like including the Gravatars plugin with my customers WP themes and I’m happy to hear that the system will be improved! Way to go! 8)

  178. Jeffro2pt0 Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:54 pm

    This is awesome and exciting news. I have had an account with Gravatar for a few years now and I need to get back into it and mess with my account. I think it will be pretty awesome to see Gravatar implemented into future version of WordPress. As you said Matt, I think the two are complimentary to each other.

  179. VentureBeat » VCs love Obama, mapping merger, Gravatar and more Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 9:58 pm

    [...] avatar company — Automattic, the company that operates the popular WordPress blog software, has acquired Gravatar, a company that gives users a 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from blog to [...]

  180. Automattic Picks Up Gravatar · All the Billion Other Moments (Jason Penney) Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:03 pm

    [...] but which sadly hasn’t taken off to the degree I’d like. Hopefully that will change. Go read the announcement over at the Gravatar Blog. Tags: Automattic, [...]

  181. Amit Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:06 pm

    pretty cool! Congrats Matt & Automattic on acquiring a related & potent service. :)

  182. Automattic купи Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:15 pm

    [...] Automattic купи Gravatar. [...]

  183. Michael from Pro Blog Design Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:17 pm

    Looking forward to the next few months with Gravatar now. Best of luck! :)

  184. Abel Castosa » » Hoy no ha sido un día malo Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:25 pm

    [...] llevar a comprar cosas. En concreto la evolución de la que hablo es WordPress y la compra es la adquisición del grupo Automattic del servicio Gravatar. Para los que se hayan perdido decir que Automattic es la empresa que se encuentra detrás de [...]

  185. La gente de WordPress compra Gravatar | Mangas Verdes Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 10:44 pm

    [...] empresa de Matt Mullenweg y compañía que desarrolla WordPress y Akismet, entre otros productos, acaba de hacerse con Gravatar, el popular servicio de avatares. Automattic tiene muchos proyectos para el nuevo producto. Entre [...]

  186. Automattic Acquires Gravatar Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:08 pm

    [...] weblog do Gravatar pode ler-se hoje: The best ideas are often the simplest. (At least in hindsight.) The idea of globally-recognized [...]

  187. Retazos de la web del 2007-10-18 (microblogging) | hombrelobo, una mente dispersa Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:25 pm

    [...] 8 - Automattic Acquires Gravatar « Gravatar Blog [...]

  188. saul Says:
    October 18, 2007 at 11:47 pm

    I’d love it if you could get Gravtars over SSL/https! This is a key feature that is stopping me implementing Gravatar further.

    Great move though guys, an important service.

  189. Automattic Acquires Gravatar | dailyApps Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 12:08 am

    [...] Well Matt has chalked out even the future plans for Gravatar and here they are quoted from the announcement he wrote [...]

  190. Personalisieren der Zahnarzt Homepage : Zahnarzt Wiesbaden Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 12:18 am

    [...] dies leider, aber ich denke ich werde diese Funktion in Kürze in mein Gästebuch aufnehmen. Die neue Performance ist mir in den letzten Tagen, wirklich positiv aufgefallen und mir gefällt die Idee, den Kommentar [...]

  191. Elliott Pogue Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 12:27 am

    Nice to see that it got some speed increases, but Rails certainly wasn’t the culprit. A good Rails application is fast, efficient, scalable, and powerful. It’s funny to see the Rails bashers here though. :P

    Won’t argue the Mephisto to WordPress move though. I hate Mephisto.

  192. gidong Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 1:37 am

    great idea …

  193. Automattic Looking For A Buyer? : Professional Blogging News Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 2:34 am

    [...] of Gravatar, a company that creates avatar images that bloggers can you when commenting. Mullenweg said the acquisition of Gravatar for an unknown sum came because the company was “facing some [...]

  194. WordPress 新闻:WordPress 2.3.1 beta1,simple tags,Gravatar - 漫步 Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 2:50 am

    [...] Gravatar Blog 得知 Automattic 收购了 Gravatar，相信大家对 Automattic 也不陌生，它就是 [...]

  195. Corinne Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 2:59 am

    Definitely sounds impressive.

  196. Oh Happy Days! Automattic Acquires Gravatar » cnp_studio_Blog Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 3:02 am

    [...] nice of Matt Mullenweg (that wonderful guy who brought us WordPress) and his company Automattic to acquire [...]

  197. Automattic Gets Gravatar - and Valuation « Changing Way Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 4:17 am

    [...] isn’t there now. It wasn’t just my imagination: Om Malik linked to the post. Update: Matt’s post is [...]

  198. links for 2007-10-19 Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 4:25 am

    [...] Automattic Acquires Gravatar « Gravatar Blog Of course I should be able to have my avatar wherever I go! Of course email is a great way to key it! Of course there should be an open API for any platform! (tags: gravatar api Automattic wordpress) [...]

  199. Richmond Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 5:40 am

    Let me try.

  200. Evert Jan Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 6:34 am

    This is great news! Congratulations to everyone!

    Regards,EJ

  201. Sakib Al Mahmud Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 6:54 am

    nice

  202. Gravatar overgenomen door Automattic » Onbezet.nl Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 6:57 am

    [...] webservice voor “globally-recognized avatars” Gravatar is recent overgenomen door Automattic, de drijvende kracht achter de weblogtool WordPress. Op Onbezet.nl wordt Gravatar (net [...]

  203. Viking Opera | Act of War: Warfare Re-defined Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 6:59 am

    [...] took a year in the coming. I think promised this post last Oktober. I was going to do a post on GravyPress but deleted it everytime I got to the third paragraph. So what better post than some kewl widgets [...]

  204. Martijn Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 7:10 am

    That is a win-win to all. Way to go!

  205. Grasland Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 7:11 am

    What happens when to great companies become one…. We’ll see.

  206. Dentaku » Blog Archiv » coComment is missing Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 7:32 am

    [...] Wenigstens geht’s den Gravataren gut. [...]

  207. Automattic übernimmt Gravatar - n a s u m i Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 7:42 am

    [...] der Betreiber von wordpress.com und Askimet, übernimmt Gravatar. Die Vorteile der Übernahme sind sicher, dass die Pro-Features kostenfrei werden und dass mit [...]

  208. Blogcosm Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Gravatar’s founder looks beyond the icons; competitors beware

    For some interesting thoughts on where Gravatar could go in the future, see Joshuaink’s Seven and a half questions for Tom Werner from April 2005.

    I get the feeling there is a bigger picture with

  209. Gravatar goes Automattic at teezeh dot de Says:
    October 19, 2007 at 9:36 am

    [...] sez: Watching how Gravatar changed and evolved over the years I saw a service with great adoption and [...]