by Raven Lebeau

Created on: November 17, 2008

Much of modern existence takes place online. People use the Internet for career-related activities like finding a job or seeking out new business contacts as well as social activities like dating and special interest clubs. For some bloggers, webmasters, and content creators, the Internet is a way to earn a living. Securing your online presence is key to making sure that your activities online are truly working in your favor. Here are a few tips for keeping your online life in order.

1. Never use your real name for a personal blog.

There are a few excellent reasons for this rule. Avoiding conflict with people in real life is an obvious one. Many people use blogs to "vent," which is fine as long as those being vented about have no way to read the entries and know they are being discussed. Even more importantly, if you use your real name for something like a personal blog, then anyone who reads it can find out details such as your pets' names, your mother's maiden name, or where you went on your honeymoon. This kind of personal information is often used in password recovery for things like bank accounts or e-mail accounts. An incidental line in a blog entry, such as, "We named the new puppy 'Havoc'," could allow someone to reset your bank account password and gain access to your money! When writing a blog entry, you do not want to have to consider what type of information you are giving out. Making a "no names" rule for yourself will solve the problem. Never use your own name or give the real names of your family members in a blog.

2. Do use your real name for all employment-related or academic activities. Writing professional-sounding articles or posting to academic message boards can give potential employers or contacts a positive impression of you. There's nothing wrong with using the net to strut your stuff, as long as it's "stuff" you want friends, family, and potential employers to see!

3. Keep your personal interests personal by choosing screen names that are not related to your real name. In a perfect world, no one would judge your competence or reliability by your taste in music, movies, games, or hobbies. However, we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. Traditionally, people's private lives were just that- private! Your boss and co-workers don't need to know everything about you, so use an alias at all entertainment-related sites.

This advice goes double for political or religious sites, especially if your personal views could be considered extreme or controversial. Once people get to know you, they will probably judge you by what they know of your character, even if they have a few philosophical disagreements with you. However, people are increasingly using the Internet to pre-judge others, so keep your controversial views quiet by putting them under a screen name.

4. Compartmentalize intelligently. Try to pick a unique screen name and stick with that name, or something similar, when you create accounts at similar sites. For example, if you are a member of several sports sites, try to use the same screen name for all of them. This will help your online friends recognize you and improve your online social life.

5. Beware of "guilt by association". Be careful when adding people to your friends or contacts lists or when adding links to your website, especially if it is a business-related website. You don't want potential customers linking to a site that contains offensive content, or even links to offensive content. While it would be unreasonable to expect all webmasters to verify every link on every site, do be choosy about the connections you make. Keep your particular customers in mind and try to avoid material that they might find offensive.

Learn more about this author, Raven Lebeau.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.