Just as in real life where your words, deeds and appearance influence the way people perceive you -- the ingredients of your personal brand -- so to in the online world you are what you Tweet. And post in your blog. And in other blog or forum comments. As alluded-to by tachyondecay in Tris Hussey's post on Lifestreaming, the online world is adopting many of the cultural trappings of the offline one. Which means that your carefully coiffed real-world persona needs to make the jump to lightspeed, so to speak, and stake out some turf in the online world. What makes up the online brand? Some of the same things that define you offline, will also define you online. Here's just a few of the factors that contribute to your online brand: Actions - which websites do you visit for your news, entertainment, and information? Do you contribute to special interest community or hobby forums?Network - who do you communicate with regularly online, via email, instant messaging, or other medium? Do you belong to online groups or associations?Thoughts, Opinions - have you left posts, comments or messages in any public online forums?Image (avatar) - do you have a specific Avatar (or Icon) you use in forums you participate in?Produced work - do you create things for online consumption? Could be photos, software, posts, etc. Reputation - what do others think of you and your work? Of course, there are many more factors that contribute to your brand, but these are the obvious ones that also have an online correlation. Here's some online tools that you can use to research and develop your own online personal brand: Facebook - one of the best ways to build (or destroy) your personal brand. Lots of opportunity to share lots of information, but remember, your current (or future) boss may one day read that page. Lots of privacy and security settings will help manage your exposure.LinkedIn profile - a professional networking and social media site. You can post your employment and education history here, as well as join online networks related to your industry, field, or speciality.Twitter - the current social media darling. Since Twitter is geared to 140 character text 'tweets', you build your personal brand over time, through sharing, networking and conversation. High follower counts are not an indication of a successful personal brand.Your own Blog - one of the best ways to develop your brand, as the content is completely under your control, and crawled by the search engines so is findable online.Your own website / domain name - similar to the blog, but having your own domain name helps cement your own online personal brand. Think Oprah.com. Think BradGrier.com Yes Virginnia, it's a lot of work. And just as in the offline world you put a lot of effort into maintaining your personal brand by updating your resume, selecting which friends you hang with (or not!) and developing a professional network, so too should you invest time developing and continually maintaining your online brand. Doubting me? Just try Googling your own name, and see what comes up. If you've invested no time maintaining your online brand, I'll bet you'll be surprised by the search engine results. I was. Well, what do you think. Is developing and maintaining an online brand worth the effort?Message Edited by bgrier on 07-01-2009 12:19 AM