This is part 6 of 7 in the series on Personal Branding and online name optimization…

Virtual is not real – and real is not virtual…yet.  But we’re nearly there:

FACT #6:  Our virtual and real worlds are fast becoming alike

Except, of course, online we are much more transparent than we are in public.  Online, there isn’t as much to pull around you to hide what you are saying and the angles you are working.  Your virtual identity, when someone looks for the real you – is beginning to offer up a lot of free information about you. 

Sometimes it is the “real you” – the one who you want people to find.  Sometimes it can be the right picture, or wrong one.  Other times it is someone who shares your name.  Beyond that, it could be “you from a former life” – oftentimes, people change.  While other people may give them benefit of the doubt – the search engines know of no such thing.  When they search for your name – they find the best matches possible.  You need to help control that – and help them find you: the real you and the current you.

There is even a very amusing post about how someone’s daughter is molding her own and his reality with telling him “Daddy, Google it!”  And here is where our real and virtual world’s become one fastest – through our kids and the younger generations.  Hold on folks, and get your footing now!

Be sure to check out the other parts to this article - here are links to installment 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.