Knowing who you are is fundamental to a happy life. Knowing who you appear to be when people look for you on the web can be revealing. Not knowing when inaccurate information about you shows up on the web where anyone (including employers, prospective employers, prospective mates, …) can be a disaster in the making. Here are two ways to know what’s out there.
Personal Branding
First, let’s talk about the concept. There’s a (very) short Wikipedia article and a recent Wall Street Journal article. News stories in the United States about personal branding are growing. (Ignore the world-wide numbers – by looking carefully you’ll see that South Africa leads the world in news on this topic. I don’t think the ‘brand’ we’re talking about here is the same ‘brand’ those stories are referring to.)
Way back in 1997 Tom Peters wrote an article about personal branding for Fast Company. In The Brand Called You, Peters says, “It’s time for me – and you – to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.”
Some take the idea to the extreme, almost making you think the packaging is more important than the content. That’s always bothered me. It bothers me when companies do it and it bothers me when people do it.
This article isn’t about how you “brand” yourself. Maybe in a future article we can talk about that. (If you’re interested now, Google the term “personal branding” or “personal brand” – with the quotes – and you’ll get a good start.)
This article is about how you keep track of your personal brand and how you find references to yourself on the internet without spending a lot of time.
I’ve found a couple tools especially useful.
Google Alerts
Google lets you create ‘alerts’ to track almost any search term – which includes your name, of course. These alerts automatically let you when your search term shows up in a web page, blog, news story, video or in a group discussion. Google will send you an email or send the alert to an RSS reader immediately, once a day or once a week – you make the call how often. (The ‘as it happens’ choice is actually quite speedy. When I add a new article to this website, Google usually sends the alert within just a few minutes.)
The search term you use is like any Google search. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to do a normal search first to see if it’ll get you want you’re looking for. There aren’t a lot of people named “Walt Bristow” but if your name is “John Smith” you’ll probably want to narrow the search.
You can limit your alerts to a specific source (news, blogs, webs, video or groups) or you can do a comprehensive search that includes them all.
You manage your alerts on the Google Alerts page. You’ll need to have a Google Account. If you don’t have one, sign up – it only takes an email address. One benefit is that your alerts are effective immediately – otherwise you need to reply to a confirmation email. Another benefit? When you create a new alert you can have results sent to an RSS feed (so you can use a reader like Google Reader) to consolidate information from a variety of sources).
If you’re searching for your name, make sure you include variations. For example, I search for “Walter Bristow” and “Walt Bristow” and “Walter S Bristow.” And put your name in quotes so Google is searching for the whole name and not just your first or last name. You may also want to create alerts for your phone number (either as 555-555-5555 or 555.555.5555) and your email address (add quotes around it).
If you have a website, create Google Alerts to identify other sites that link to you. Use “link:www.yoursitename.com” as your search term.
Note that the Google service we’re talking about here is not the service offered by a company called GoogleAlert. That company, not affiliated with Google, lets you create three free searches. After that you must pay a monthly fee. Google, on the other hand, doesn’t (yet) charge.
Trackle
Trackle.com is a fairly new website with promise. It lets you create “tracklets” – a personal tracker of information from the internet. Available tracklets include everything from low air fares to crime in your neighborhood (limited coverage) to new jobs to such important information as when your favorite person is going to be on a talk show.
The ones you’ll be interested in for personal branding include:
- Trackle me on the web
- Trackle me on blogs
- Trackle anyone on the web (this is different than the “Trackle me” because it tells you when a new search result with that person’s name appears in the top ten search results.
- Trackle news about a person (apparently limited to business, entertainment, political, and sports personalities – if the preview returns results, I guess you know you’ve made the list!)
- Trackle anyone on blogs
- Trackle me on local news (done by zip code)
- Trackle me on specific websites (Track mentions of yourself on 3 specific websites. Changes in your company or organization website?)
- Trackle LinkedIn network updates
Most of these are in the “About Me”, “People” and “Social Stuff” categories you’ll find in the left column of Trackle’s home page.
You can set up Tracklets to send you an email as soon as they find something new. Or have the updates sent once a day. If you’re going to be away from email for a while, you can put a ‘vacation hold’ on new notifications. (This apparently means you lose anything that happens while you’re on vacation. It doesn’t look like they just hold them for you and send them all when you get home.) If you’re in a real hurry, updates sent to your cell phone.
I’m not sure what algorithm they use in deciding what to send. I get updates for things they’ve already told me about. (Google does the same thing, but much less frequently.)
Conclusion
Happy hunting as you find yourself out there among the bits and bytes. If you use other tools to keep track of information about yourself on the Internet, please leave a comment and share it with other readers.
Sphere: Related ContentRelated articles from WalterBristow.com:
- Did Laker Fans Use the Internet to Find Out Where to Join the Riot?
- 12 Ways to Find an Email Address
- Does Google Have a Crystal Ball That Lets You Predict the Future?
- Are You Drowning in the Information Glut of the Internet Ocean? Here’s a Life Preserver.
- Just-in-Time Mind Reading with Google Hot Trends
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Excellent Article Walt .. thank you. The note on Google alerts ability to tell you who is linked to your site is especially helpful… Thanks.
Mark Schiavone
Great article. Also a good point for parents of teens and young college aged kids who don’t understand the implications of a poor internet presence.
Walt, great article. Keeping tabs on how your brand is coming across online is essential to maintaining a consistent and strong personal brand message. Always remember to only post content that you feel comfortable for public view, as you never know when it may be seen and who may see it.
By Kenneth Loso, Managing Director at The Globecon Group on the Brigham Young University LinkedIn group.
Walt, with all of the electronic communications, the many blog sites and others making decisions we may not know about in terms of sharing content or comments made, makes this a very important topic. With all of the greed and the shame branding many who participated in taking advantage of a benign market at the expense of others, many will want to ensure that they are not associated with the many accusations especially if they continue to be successful during the downturn. Many will want to distance themselves from the branding that occurs with guilt by association where they knew what was going on, but were unable to make the necessary changes. Others, will simply want to ensure as you so aptly point out that others know an individual’s profile of who we really are and that the characterization fits. Thanks for sharing this topic. It is very relevant for all…best regards.
From Larson Bennett Marketing and Advertising Professional on the LDS Professionals LinkedIn group.
Well said. Thank you for the thought.
Thanks for the article. I regularly google my name for the reasons you listed. I was not aware of Google Alert and Trackle. Thanks for sharing.
From Kawika Heftel, Software Engineer, Web Developer, Owner of Heftel Studios, Recording Engineer, Musician on the LDS Professionals LinkedIn group.
good point. You need to keep up on how people perceive you online.
Discovering Identity blog links to this article.
Mark Dixon linked to this story on FriendFeed.
i am constantly intrigued and amazed at the Narcissism inherent in the “social networking tools” and and the net in general.
is it so wonderful to google yourself to ensure your “net image” appears as you desire to appear?
is it so necessary to “brand yourself”? why?
are you so unsure of yourself and your own identity that you must affirm it via ephemeral and artificial ‘net tools?
why does the populace care *so much* that they use the ‘net to link so heavily to others… and place such incredible value on “who they are linked to”?
is this ‘net “reality” really so much more important than the physical reality?
@oldfart
Good points. I do understand where your questions are coming from.
Think about it this way. Your personal brand is a new term for what was your reputation or good name. Before the internet, you had TV, radio, print and outdoor media and word-of-mouth which makes up part of what you call the “physical reality.” On those communication platforms, fewer ordinary people’s personal brands were featured beyond those of politicians, leaders, celebrities etc. Ordinary people did not have direct access to these platforms, and thus, they could only really promote their own individual brand, reputation, good name (i.e. unique and differentiating value) in person, through advertising on a much more local scale, or via word-of-mouth.
However, even then, while they could not track it often or consistently, if someone learned that their personal brand had been miscommunicated, misrepresented or misperceived, I can bet you money that they were not happy with it and that they did whatever they could do in their power at that time to counter/change it so that their personal brand or reputation was protected and maintained.
The internet has given almost everyone access to same powerfully-connected communication platform. Local is quickly becoming global as we become more and more connected and accessible to one another. Therefore, more people and their brands are now featured and searchable on this platform which means that more people can track their reputations and how they are being portrayed by others. If you don’t keep tabs on your personal brand via the globalized internet today, it could be just as dangerous or harmful as letting someone taint your good name in the local paper or within your local community decades ago.
Does this mean that you should be an extremist and check the status of your brand every single second of the day? No, not at all. However, net reality is as real as physical hard-copy newspaper reality. It’s just the communication platform of today.
Personal branding is simply creating, communicating and maintaining a unique, memorable and valuable reputation in the spheres in which you choose to exist and be active.
Hope this helps!
Chris -
thanks *very much* for the eloquent explanation which not only clarifies the discussion but literally has turned it around for me. I fear I was blinded by my preconceived colouring of the nomenclature used. As you point out the new connectivity at our disposal has not only empowered positive aspects of of personal interactions, but the negative possibilities as well; thus it is in fact incumbent upon me to ensure that my “reputation” is not besmirched by the trolls, etc. We have seen how rapidly internet attacks appear on celebs “out of nowhere” .
thanks for your time & patience – “it is easy to be holy on a mountain” ….
Chris my name “Rob Abdul” for the last 3 years has been my brand name.
Google has 3,360,000 results for my name Rob Abdul.
I was so proud when my name appeared in Google suggest.
I’m Number 1 for my name on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, AOL and many more!
It may not sound like much but at least 60 to 80 people Google me a month.
It is nice for the Ego, I must admit!
I am an “ebusiness specialist” for which I can also be Googled, Binged or Yahooed for.
Wonderful article.
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