| Two words: you can't. However, there are several | | | | has never rung truer than today. If you are a writer, |
| things you can and should do in order to manage your | | | | blogger, personality of any sort, or anyone who "puts it |
| social media identity, which may prevent social media | | | | out there," you probably already know enough to do |
| identity theft. | | | | these things. But there is more to do. |
| What exactly is social media identity theft? It's a form | | | | If someone, perhaps a potential employer or mate or |
| of cybersquatting using social media sites. If you've | | | | client, searches your name on Google Web, Google |
| ever attempted to join a social media, more commonly | | | | Blogs or Google News, what will they find? Will it be |
| known as a social networking site, or applied for an | | | | someone else posing as you? Will it be a picture of |
| email account, and found that your first and last name | | | | you doing a keg stand? Or will it be you in your nicest |
| were already taken, that may or may not have been | | | | outfit, accepting an award for an accomplishment? |
| social media identity theft, or cybersquatting. There | | | | Either way, you need to manage your online identity |
| may be someone out there who shares your exact | | | | and work toward preventing social media identity theft. |
| name and happened to register first, or else there is | | | | This isn't an easy task. Nor is it fun. It can be time |
| someone out there who took your name so that you | | | | consuming and almost overwhelming. But I believe that |
| can't have it, or who wants to sell it back to you, or | | | | the long term rewards are worth it. |
| wants to pose as you and disrupt your life. These are | | | | |
| all possibilities. The most damaging possibility occurs | | | | 1. Register your full name and those of your spouse |
| when someone wants to pose as you in order to | | | | and kids on the most trafficked social media sites, |
| disrupt your life. | | | | blogs, domains or web based email accounts. If your |
| This disruption can take on many forms. They may | | | | name is already gone, include your middle initial, a |
| pose as you in order to harass and stalk you, or to | | | | period or a hyphen. It's up to you to decide whether or |
| harass and stalk people you know. Or they may steal | | | | not to plug in your picture and basic bio, but consider |
| your social media identity for financial gain. Throughout | | | | leaving out your age or birthday. |
| my years working in the field of financial crimes and | | | | 2. Set up a free Google Alerts for your name and get |
| identity theft, I've seen plenty of social media identity | | | | an email every time your name pops up online. |
| theft that led to financial loss. The thieves use a | | | | 3. Set up a free StepRep account for your name. |
| combination of email and social media to extract funds | | | | StepRep is an online reputation manager that does a |
| from others, or to open new accounts. | | | | better job than Google Alerts does of fetching your |
| There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of | | | | name on the web. |
| social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, | | | | 4. Consider dropping $65 on This is an online portal that |
| YouTube), web-based email providers (hotmail.com, | | | | goes out and registers your name at what they |
| gmail.com, yahoo.com) and domain extensions (.com, | | | | consider the top 120 social media sites. Their top 120 is |
| .net, .biz). Then there are all the blog portals, such as | | | | debatable, but a great start. The user experience with |
| Wordpress and Blogspot. Even your local online | | | | Knowem is relatively painless. There is still labor |
| newspaper has a place for user comments, and most | | | | involved in setting things up and with some of the 120. |
| people would want to register their own names before | | | | And no matter what you do, you will still find it difficult |
| someone else comments on their behalf. | | | | to complete the registration with all 120 sites. Some of |
| Social media websites offer the option to provide your | | | | the social media sites just aren't agreeable. This can |
| real name as well as a user name. The user name | | | | save you lots of time, but is only one part of solving |
| may be a fun chat handle or an abbreviation of your | | | | the social media identity theft problem. |
| real name. The key is to give your real name where | | | | 5. Start doing things online to boost your online |
| requested and also to use your real name as your | | | | reputation. Blogging is best. You want Google to bring |
| user name. Even if you don't plan on spending any time | | | | your given name to the top of search in its best light, |
| on the site, or to use the domain or email, you want to | | | | so when anyone is searching for you they see good |
| establish control over it. The goal is to obtain your real | | | | things. This is a combination of online reputation |
| first and last name without periods, underscores, | | | | management and search engine optimization for your |
| hyphens, abbreviations or extra numbers or letters. | | | | brand: YOU. |
| Your ideal name, for example would be twitter.com | | | | 6. If you ever stumble upon someone using your |
| yourname, yourname.com, or | | | | likeness in the social media, be very persistent in |
| This strategy won't prevent someone else from | | | | contacting the site's administrators. They too have |
| registering with your name and adding a dot or a dash, | | | | reputations to manage and if they see someone using |
| but it trims down the options for a thief. Some names | | | | your photo or likeness they would be smart to delete |
| are very common, or are also owned by someone | | | | the stolen profile. |
| famous. If that applies to your name, you can still take | | | | 7. Or do nothing and don't worry about it. But when |
| actions to manage your online reputation. If there is any | | | | some other John Doe does something stupid or uses |
| uniqueness to your name or the spelling of your name, | | | | your name in a disparaging way or for identity theft, |
| it's still a good idea to claim your name in social media | | | | and people assume that it's you, remember that I told |
| and work toward managing your online reputation. | | | | you so. |
| Understand that your name is your brand. Your name | | | | 8. Despite all the work you may do to protect yourself, |
| is front and center on every document you sign and | | | | you still need identity theft protection and Internet |
| every website that shows up when your name is | | | | security software. |
| searched. The phrase, "All I have is my good name," | | | | |