What does your online profile says about you?

So many aspects of our lives seem to be lived online these days, whether we’re browsing on our mobile on the bus, sitting at a library computer, on our laptops… it’s hard to imagine how we ever lived without the internet.

But how often do you think about what you actually do online, how you represent yourself and how you appear to other people who might search for you? In this digital age our online identity is becoming increasingly important as employers, potential partners, creditors and almost anyone with an interest in you can easily look you up on the web. Do you know what they would find if they searched for you on Google? Are there things that you’ve said or pictures you’ve posted in the past which might come back to haunt you one day?

Practical Steps you can take
· Find out what you can about your own online profile. Google yourself, use other search engines and services.

· Check privacy settings on social networks to control what people are able to see about you.

· Try to create a positive impression for future employers by creating a profile on LinkedIn. One big advantage of LinkedIn is that as such a popular site it will appear very high up on any search, often first or second result so people are more likely to see it.

· Make sure you regularly check your online profile. If you have a name that is very common and shared by lots of other people, why not
use a middle initial to differentiate yourself from other people with the same name?

· One reason to focus on creating a positive online profile is that it is very hard to remove anything which has already appeared about you online.

- By Opeseyi Joel (Vanguard)