Technology 101: What is Google saying about you?

by Oluwatobi Soyombo

photo; Tech news now

Just as a company manages his or her reputation in the market, it is a wise for individuals to as well manage theirs especially on the web.

Today, everyone is turning to the internet, among other things, to get more information about other people. How did you feel when you read that British Airways will Google passengers before they fly? According to the post, they’re doing so primarily to have a facial view of a passenger before he/she arrives at the airport. Believe it or not, this trend has been on for a while and it promises to continue. In recent times, few companies have included Social Media in their employment grading system. Be it British Airways Googling you or your potential employer/client performing a background check on you, you’ll want to avoid painting the wrong impression.

It’s your responsibility to ensure you manage what Google is saying about you. You’re not at war with Larry or Sergy, No! You are actually at war with yourself. The World Wide Web is written in black ink. A tweet, Facebook posts or even a one line comment you left on a blog are all ink. The implication of this is that even after you delete, you are not guaranteed that they can’t be found later in the future. Similarly with inks, these things are quite difficult to erase. What Google says about you are the things he found on your blog, other people’s blog, your Facebook wall, tweets and all sorts of platforms you post on.

Just as a company manages his or her reputation in the market, it is a wise for individuals to as well manage theirs especially on the web. You never can tell who is performing a background check on you on Google. Remember they say; “first impression last long”. The reality of today does not fully permit us to treat the WWW casually. Get serious about your online reputation, buddy. I’ve had clients Google my name several times before trusting me with their projects. The same is true for many.

Hey, I could go ahead to include a long list of what you should not post online in this post, but I won’t. The truth is there are no strict rules as to what should be posted online or not except the ones you create for yourself. It is good to assume you’re a potential employer, what would you like to see on the Facebook wall of your potential employee or what would you not want to see? Would you employ someone with 1000+ pictures of several night parties with drunks shots as the manager of your company. I suspect you want.

Now, think for a moment – What is Google saying about you? You won’t need to think too far. Launch your browser and Google your name now before your employer/client does. Not happy with what you’re seeing? No worries, I’ll teach you how you can control what Google is saying about you next week.

Evolve!

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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