There's another Ben Skinner out there, and like me he's a professional surfer. The only difference is that he uses a surfboard while I use a keyboard. Also, he's famous.
Like most people, I have occassionally performed a "vanity check" on Google, but have never given a lot of thought to the overall impression my online persona conveys. Luckily, adding "library" or "brighton" to my name gets past the many references to skindog surfboards fairly handily and I soon start to emerge from the Google cacophony.
It occurs to me that one way of differentiating myself from surfer Ben would be to more consistently use my second name in online profiles, and I will try that from now on. I also like Jo Alcock's idea of using a consistent background image across multiple sites.
This latest vanity check has been helpful in prompting me to delete an old and defunct last.fm profile (the only prominent non-work-related reference to me) and to update my job title in a couple of places. It's also raised an important question about why my work website does not appear higher in the list. I'm not sure what to do about that, but it bears consideration.
And lastly, what of my profile picture? I have been using the pop-art style photo for a few years but I think it might be time for it to go. Now I just need to find an image of myself that I can bear to spread around the interwebs...
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