With the evolution of social networking and blogging sites throughout the last few years, publishing information about yourself on the web has become more and more commonplace. One thing that may throw a wrench in the works is being able to manage a consistent identity among the many channels you use to publish information as well as through other sources that are mentioning you. Google is attempting to make that easier by adding their reputation management service “Me on the Web” to the Google Dashboard.
Within “Me on the Web” users can set up alerts for when personal information, such as a name or email address, is mentioned by websites or news sources so they can monitor the content being published. Users can set up these alerts within their Google Dashboard and choose how often they want to be notified. Furthermore, “Me on the Web” provides links to resources that educate users on how to control this information being posted on the web about them. If a user finds public, personal content, “Me on the Web” provides tips on how to remove the unwanted content from Google search results. This provides a way for users to manage their identity not only within the realm of their own personal networking channels, but through outside sources as well.
This is also a significant attempt to get users to understand their Google profiles and how to effectively manage privacy settings within their Dashboard. If users weren’t already aware of how much of their personal information is floating throughout the Google universe, “Me on the Web” is great insight into keeping their privacy private on the web again.
