Finding an Identity on the Internet is a painful activity

I recently did something which I had actually refused to do for a long while.

I changed my msn nick from ., which I had used it since I got the msn account since... erm.. probably 2000 or so? But of course, I am still refusing to do frequent status updates, but somehow I get the feeling I would be giving in to that too, as I am twittering frequently already.

Why the sudden change? Quite simply, a rebranding exercise of my own brand.

It is really a VERY PAINFUL activity. It was not just the msn nick change.

First, I got my own domain name, kentlai.name (actually I got a few more, but .name is good enough). Next, I set up google apps standard edition on it. And then I have to start the migration of my blog and email accounts to the domain!

I am keeping the older blog and email accounts, but I had to forward my emails, as well as perform domain redirection to the new domain. That was not so bad. But then this meant that potentially there are 'two' of me on the internet. Both of them are me! It *could* cause confusion.

And of course, next involve grabbing username from services. I was lucky that I used my name as my twitter id. I managed to grab my name for the facebook vanity user url (though I was tormented between using my name as a single word, or separate it with a dot). I registered my username on a bunch of other services too.

But there are still some services where my username is not my name, but rather other forms. And I am wondering if I should start afresh for all of them and register a new one, or simply ignore them. For now, I'm probably taking a 'register if using' approach. If I am not going to use it, it might mean I never will. So I'll leave it for now.

But why the rebranding?

Because I need to let people know of my activities. And which of those activities belong to me. And reduce the possibility of impersonation.

We are in a connected world. Dangerous, and very real. Anything you say or do will be recorded in the internet, forever. And especially for us techies, we really have to protect our presence. We have to recognize that it is virtually (or nearly) impossible to remain 100% anonymous in the Internet. So, if we cannot beat them, join them!

I write articles (well used to), try to participant in forum discussions, and tweet. I try to engage in activities that I view would add value to myself, as I try to advance my career as a software developer/consultant.

The internet is increasingly becoming useful in job hunts, and heat hunting. Back when I was conducting or involve in interviews, I would google about the candidate, to get a feel of what his skills are. If there are no activities at all, I would usually start him off with a negative points. This is harsh, I agree, but I do have a reason.

If a person is interested in new technology, the same person would experiment around. And with experimentations, he would definitely hit problems that he cannot solve. At times, a simple google would solve it, but at others, he would not be able to find any information around on it. And that is where the person would seek help in a community forum (or stackoverflow now).

And of course, if he managed to have a smooth sailing, he should be rather knowledgeable on the product. He should be helping out on these forums too.

But of course, the face to face interview is still important, and the negativity of not having an online presence is not that heavy.

In the more advanced cases, the same person might have published articles. By reading them, I get a feel on how good a person is.

And if I am in a company that hunts talent, I probably would go to stackoverflow and choose a highly reputable user, or code project on someone who has published articles with the skill sets we require.

I am sure that I am not along in such thoughts, and that means that someone out there is hunting, and having a consolidated and online presence makes it easier for that person to hunt ME.

And a name sure spells out a person character. I look at my older hotmail and gmail email account names, and I go, "Boy was I childish".

I need something that spells that I am proud and confident of myself. And hence the name changes.

I would have had lesser problems if I had stick to it initially.