The Online Story of You

Everything you write on the web can come back to haunt you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a company or an individual: whatever you say may well (and probably will) be used against you. Seriously.

That’s why it’s important to take a moment to actually think through what you’re putting out there. What might look like a harmless Facebook update could have dire consequences for your job and future career.

The generation of teens currently documenting their lives on the web need to be a little careful. It’s not just recruiters who are increasingly checking out our online profiles. Even university admissions staff are starting to make negative decisions based on what people publish online.

I often write with businesses in mind but this post is very much directed at the individual. And particularly some of those young people I get to talk to from time to time.

The Online Story of You

As social media sights encourage us to broadcast what we’re doing, thinking, feeling, it’s important not to lose sight that each message we post tells the ongoing story of who we are.

As Brian Solis says:

“[W]e create and define our online persona with every status update, tweet, video, picture, review, comment, and post, we share.”

Have you checked what Google says about you lately? Do you mind? Does it matter?

Protecting Your Online Self

You can’t hide everything. But you can do somethings: like making sure you don’t post anything that compromises your integrity.

If you want to be more proactive register your name as a domain (or close enough) and build a website that shows the story you want to tell.

Having a website doesn’t just have to mean running a blog or link journal. You can use it as an online professional portfolio, documenting the good stuff you’ve done.

Then, make sure all your social media sites link back to your domain.

If you’re really paranoid, why not upload something that shows your strengths to YouTube, Slideshare or Scribd. If you’re a student, put a great presentation up. If you’re in college, document the work you’ve done supporting a local charity. Be creative. Look at the things you do (and have done) and show that to the world if it reinforces the positive story of who you are.

There’s already so much of you on the Net; you just need to be a bit more proactive about crafting something that takes care of that professional persona.

Image:FlickrCC