Google Inc has released a new Profile feature which makes it easier to manage their shared online content and links. It works the same way as social networking Web sites by updating information about yourself online. The new Google feature can be used to manage all your blog links, online photos, and other profiles including Twitter, Facebook, Classmates, MySpace and LinkedIn.
It is a great development and probably a brilliant move by Google. For example, I know a friend whose reputation has been depleted because one of his enemies had written a bunch of negative statements about him on public bulletin board forums. The statements about him are embarrassing while his employer has even asked about it.
Profile lets Google users identify themselves before any search results. Your photo and description will be the first to show publicly on the Web. It is a feature which other search engines will probably soon adopt.
Well, there’s good news for people who have experience this injustice. When you create a new Profile, you can tell everyone who you really are, and it will be the first item shown on the Google search results before anything else. It is a feature that will probably soon appear on other search engines including Yahoo.
When searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren’t always what you want people to see — whether it’s someone else with your name, or the finishing time from that 5K you ran back in 2002.
For example, if your name happens to be Jon Wiley, your photo and description will be shown in the “Profile results” section of the Google search results. The area contains a border along with similar names and ways for people to search for you on social networking sites. Moreover, it clearly identifies and brands your name so it can’t be missed.
Google Profile Features
There are several features available in the Profile edit section. Anyone with a Google Account can send you a message without revealing your email address. Users can also share links to other social networking profiles. Photo albums can also include embedded images from Flickr and Picasa.
The one feature that really stood out for me was the map. While you can enter your current geographic location, it lets you enter where you lived previously. If someone is searching for you, the map will indicate where you grew up and currently reside today.
The information you enter into your Profile can be shown publicly, privately, or just family and friends. You don’t have to show anything on the Web that you don’t want to. You can control what the public can view by controlling your publishing details.
