Protecting Your Online Identity: Your Username
Are you the only one using your username online? You should be. Your username is your identity online and there are advantages to using the same name for across online accounts
- Easier to remember
- People in your social networks can recognize you
- You can craft your reputation online through your username
It’s not realistic to keep up with creating your user name on every email, social network, photo storage, blog, etc. website. But, when you see a new site come up that has potential, or that you’ve been meaning to use at some point, it is worth taking the minute to make a profile with your screen name. I suggest having a “throwaway” email account to register to prevent having excess junk mail being sent to your regular email account.
Another benefit of creating the accounts is that you will have control over more of the top results in the search engines for “your name” keywords - a prime objective of any online reputation management campaign. This is especially important if you have a common name and would like to be the one who people see when your name is Googled. This is also a great tactic if you are well-known and would like to prevent online vandals from having their way with your name.
(reprinted from andychimicles.com)
