Tag: google

Google Profiles – your own online reputation management

I think many of you understand the importance of branding yourself in Internet. You will probably detail your professional profile in Linkedin and Visualcv; share your hobbies / interests in Facebook and Myspace; express your views / opinions in your own blog; and voice your ideas in your Twitter page.

However, one thing is very difficult to control … that is, the search result of your own name in Google. First, there may be many people sharing your same name. Secondly, you may also find some bad / nasty stuff in the search results – some belong to another you with same name, some belong to you but are just crude exaggerations (from your point of view, of course).

And now, there is a solution of that Google search problem – also from Google. Last week, Google gives you more power to control how you appear on Google products – the Google Profiles. In their words:

A Google profile is simply how you present yourself on Google products to other Google users. It allows you to control how you appear on Google and tell others a bit more about who you are. With a Google profile, you can easily share your web content on one central location.

In your profile, you can include information like your name, where you are working, where you studied and obviously, your “About Me”.

If this new service can really deliver what it promises, the SERP shall show your tailored profile (the face you want to show to other people). The downside of that of course is you have one more online real estate to manage.

So have I created my Google Profiles ? You bet.

Google Profile

Twitter Mania

So there is a rumor that Google is in negotiation to acquire Twitter. I think it is a great news, as the service will soon be more stable and the search will be more powerful. But to Google, why do they want to buy Twitter ? I don’t think Google really care what I am doing, thinking … as an individual, but I do think there are lots of companies want to know what the Internet users are doing and thinking … collectively. And they want to know these information in real time, they don’t want to wait. And that is why the Twitter platform and its search are so powerful. If I were Google, I would acquire Twitter, just for that.

Here are four examples I recently encountered, all because of my twits:

  1. I twitted that I was evaluating three websites A.com, B.com and C.com the other day … a few days later, both A.com and B.com followed me (I assume they want to know my opinion). And of course, I told myself that C.com was not doing good enough in collecting customer feedbacks.
  2. I modified a small program for WordPress and then I twitted about it … a few days later, the program developer followed me and asked what had I done – such that he could put in the change in next version. And he did !!
  3. Shortly I mentioned some technical keywords in my twits, a few recruitment firms followed me and asked me to follow them to get the latest job information.
  4. Last night, I twitted and asked for comments of a web site service … within an hour, I received a direct message from that web site and had a follower from that website’s competitor. Amazing, isn’t it ?

So, don’t use Twitter just to twit “What are you doing?”, but also use it as a tool to express your views, to collect other people’s views, and to spread your friends’ views (by re-twit) … all in real time.

Have you twit lately ?

From Pine to Gmail

 

Yesterday, Google released some themes for their Gmail platform … in fact, 30 new themes. Many of them are simply new color schemes but some include beautiful backgrounds. It really spices up my “email world”. I picked the “Mountains” theme as my default Gmail theme for now, but I have to admit the “Terminal” theme is really really cool for old dogs like me. 

It reminds me the good old days back in 1990s when the Pine (Program for Internet News & Email) from University of Washington was my favorite Internet tool.

Try it out !!