Yesterday, I gave a 7-minute speech about the importance of managing your identity online. Several people told me that they found the information really useful, so I thought I’d share the transcript with you.

Are you aware that what you put online could cost you lost opportunities at best and your life at worst?

Seth Godin, bestselling author and blogger of the most popular marketing blog in the world said that “People watch what you do more than listen to what you say.”

Gone are the days where seemingly cathartic comments like “I downed a bottle of Jack Daniels by myself last night” or “My client is a dumbass” are excused as circumstantial expressionism or innocent venting.

Today, saying something like that on a social network like Facebook could set the impression that you’re an irresponsible alcoholic, or suggest that you often smear the people who are the source of your livelihood. Whether or not that is true is immaterial but that’s what people think you are.

As a digital consultant who has used the Internet for 15 years, I believe it is imperative to create and manage one’s online personal image and data, and today I’ll share with you the reasons why you should care about online identity management.

According to Wikipedia, Online Identity Management or OIM is a set of methods for generating a distinguished web presence of a person on the Internet. OIM is also known as online personal branding, online image management and personal reputation management.

Cyber-vetting

Firstly, the most important reason why you should manage your online ID is the growing emergence of ‘Cyber-vetting.’

Cyber-vetting is another term for a ‘virtual background check’ used by potential employers, clients and business partners usually with tools like Google. The goal of such a check is to determine the suitability of a candidate for a role.

In a survey carried out by CareerBuilder.com in 2009, 45% of employers registered with them has said that they use Google and/or other tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to check out job applicants. This is in addition to background checks that have been conducted by recruitment agencies.

Fast Company magazine published the CareerBuilder.com survey results sharing that among the reasons that employers have rejected candidates, 53% respondents said that their decision were based on provocative, inappropriate photos or information.

Drinking or drug use, bad-mouthing previous employee, colleague or client, poor communication skills, discriminatory comments, lying about qualifications, and leaking confidential info from their previous job were some of the other reasons that employers have used to justify rejecting a candidate and they are getting that information from the very data you allow them to see.

Just over the past two years, 13 people including a prominent CNN Editor, UK Politician, Australian Radio Host, Comedian, Newspaper Editor and even a waiter got fired because of what they wrote on Twitter. There have been several sources reporting that some people have gotten fired over their Facebook statuses as well.

ID Theft

Secondly, you should also manage your online identity to avoid identity theft. Online ID theft is when someone creates an ID using your name or pretends to be you fraudulently to gain the benefits associated with being you. Some of the risks associated to having your ID stolen is reputation damage, credit card and financial fraud.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 9 million Americans fall victim to ID theft each year. If you don’t manage the sensitive information about you like your birthdate, SSN or I/C number, address, phone number, or claim your ID online, ID thieves could pose as you for their gain and may even take control of your public image.

In 2001, a man called Abraham Abdallah got caught while stealing $22 million pretending to be somebody else. How did he do it? He surfed the web to gather background data on a victim and one of his tactics was to open a mailbox under his victim’s name. Some of his victims may come as a surprise to you. They were famous names like Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffet, and Paul Allen.

To avoid public ID theft, you should start registering yourself on all the major social networking websites and pay attention to what’s going on in the net space. If you cannot manage all your profiles, you could just create them and point it to your active profile. The best way to prevent people from stealing your ID is to claim it, monitor it, and be aware of where you keep a presence online.

Cyberstalking

Finally, you should manage your online ID for your own personal security. The idea is to avoid cyber-stalkers from gaining information about you that could compromise your safety. With 500 million users, cyber-stalking is now rampant on Facebook, and with the increasing use of geolocation services like Foursquare, the need for OIM has never been greater.

Did you know that in 2009, Facebook removed the profiles of 5500 convicted sex offenders? That’s just the people they found. What about those who they haven’t found yet and those who are yet to commit the crime?

Removing some personal info and photos from your public profiles is one of best thing you can do, as is setting your privacy settings on Facebook to limit access to information about you. This can help keep potential employers, clients, and ex-lovers and former friends from accessing them. If you don’t already know, the default setting on Facebook allows everybody to view everything, so you have to manage your ‘privacy settings’ to change those permissions.

Setting your privacy settings will also deter cyber stalkers and sex offenders from gaining access to pictures, sensitive and personal information about you. Data like where you live and hang out should never be shared, so be mindful of what you broadcast and stay away from revealing about your location for safety reasons.

Best Practices

To summarize, you should manage your online identity because if you don’t, your reputation, credibility, and personal safety could be compromised. Things that other people do that could affect you negatively include (but are not limited to) cyber-vetting, identity theft and cyber-stalking.

The best practice is to treat social networking and profile management sites like PR channels because they are. Any information that you don’t need 800 million people having access to is better kept offline or removed immediately.

Remember not to post anything online that could compromise the safety of your family, friends and yourself. Things like your phone number and personal home address would fall under that category as is provocative pictures of yourself and unnecessary negative comments that you make about people, places, and your work are better left unshared.

Lastly, if you find managing all the existing data daunting, consider deleting your account and start a brand new one. Do reflect on the wisdom of the legendary Warren Buffett who once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” With that I hope you’ll think about what you post the next time you log into your social network.

While everyone is busy talking about Facebook, let me throw in a bit of a likely curveball and bring up the professional social networking website LinkedIn. I did a search on someone I wanted to be back in touch with in 2004 and found her on LinkedIn. I signed up just so I could send her an email, but there wasn’t much going on in there and I was waiting for it to take off. I think the time for LinkedIn to be in the spotlight is now.

With 16 million registered users, they are a force to be reckoned with where your professional connections are concerned. I found most of my wonderful ex-colleagues sitting on this quiet business networking site. It looks like the LinkedIn team gave the website a facelift and beefed it up to anticipate an explosion in social-generated content; it is looking like it is on its way to being a platform and not just another website. I am predicting they will be more than huge following the enhancement of the site now that it is going to be a whole lot more than just a contact list-on-speed. Have a feeling there’s going to be more news on LinkedIn in the coming days and weeks so stay tuned…