What Do You Look Like Online?
Bryant March 13th, 2009
What do you look like online? Are you beautiful? Brilliant? Unknown?
And why does it matter?
Because first impressions no longer happen in person. Before I meet someone new, I typically “google” them and I don’t think I’m alone.
More and more businesses are “googling” people before hiring them. Technology companies assume that if they see no presence of someone online then they are not looking at a candidate that is really passionate about technology.
Other companies or individuals only want to hire those who have a discrete online presence. It wouldn’t exactly make you feel comfortable if your new nanny was blogging about her depression and drinking binges.
It’s important to know what google is saying about you and to take control of it. With everything that you do online, you are slowly but surely leaving a trail and building your online brand.
You have decide which part of yourself you want to project to the world. There is also the risk that one part of you will collide with another online. In the offline world, it’s much easier to share only one side of yourself with a group, but online if you say something for one group, another is just as likely to pick it up.
What will my work friends think if they see on my facebook that I’m teaching sun school. Will they think I’m a conservative wacko? What will my church friends think if they read my blog questioning prayer?
So while it’s nice to think that the web can be this liberating place where you can say and do what you want, always remember that you’re being watched, and google never forgets.
Use this knowledge for the positive and build an online brand that will WOW people. If you want to be known as an expert on technology, write detailed blog posts about the latest and greatest tech gadgets. Then when people google you, they will have no doubt where your passions lie.
Just don’t take it too far and create a “fake” version of yourself. I like to call this the “online dating effect” where all the guys are 5 inches taller and all the women weigh 30 pounds less. At some point this fake version will catch up with reality. You should be genuine, but put yourself in the best light. Because if you don’t cultivate an online brand, you will get one by default.
A brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures
Michael Eisner, Former CEO Disney
- Life
- Comments(4)
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Ok….what did you google to get that picture?
H
Ha. You don’t think I did a photoshoot?