Why Online Profiles Matter

"Why you must keep track of your online profile"
Dan Griliopoulos, Internet News, techradar.com (August 14, 2010, probably. Some Saturday, at any rate)

"You might not realise it yet, but you're a brand. All this time you've been walking and talking and posting on the internet, thinking you were a person, when you've been a brand all along. Who'd have thought it?

All of your activities have been contributing to the brand, building a profile for it and even advertising it.

Why is it important to think of yourself as a brand? Because as information about individuals becomes increasingly available online, you want to make sure that information is not only accurate but also positive and succinct...."

The last part of the article is a review of several services someone could use to track their online presence. I'm not likely to use them: my budget is 'way too tight for anything along those lines that's not free.

Besides, My name, Brian Gill, isn't all that uncommon. I don't see a point in being the very first "Brian Gill" you find in a Google search. Particularly since the odds are that whoever's doing the search is looking for Brian Gill the tenor at New York University, or Brian Gill the acoustic singer-songwriter, or Brian Gill the surgeon.

I'm the only Brian Gill who lives in a small town in Central Minnesota - and the odds are pretty good that you'll find me if you use my name and the name of one of my blogs. Or put "Minnesota" in the search.

Just the same, I updated my Google profile (Brian Gill), and added a link to it in the sidebars of my blogs.

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A tip of the hat to , on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.