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Being online is like being in public. Nearly anything that gets posted can come back to haunt you. When you post it yourself, this isn’t such a big deal — after all, it’s your fault if you post something like the “fatty paycheck” tweet, the Twitter update that resulted in Cisco Systems Inc. revoking a job offer.

Problems start when what’s online isn’t accurate, isn’t yours, or worse, isn’t yours anymore. When your online identity — including your content (written, video, or images) or even your brand — gets hijacked it can hurt you in the same way that the “fatty paycheck” hurt the job candidate for Cisco. When data posted online won’t go away or even when someone lies and steals your online identity, getting it back can be difficult.

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a pseudonym or avatar is protected only if it is identifiably connected to you, but if it’s not directly tied to your real world identity it doesn’t enjoy much legal recognition.

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Gaining visibility online via social media tools, or social media optimization, can build a presence. It also needs to be managed.

Jansons recommended having an account in at least one of every major category of service and to choose the most popular, such as Twitter () for microblogging, YouTube () for video sharing, Delicious () for links, Last.fm () for music, Flickr () for images, Digg () for news and Facebook () for a profile.

Funnel all those services through a lifestreaming tool such as FriendFeed () and moderate the content sharing there for efficiency. Jansons said to link those accounts to your blog and personal site and put the blog RSS feeds on the lifestreaming site and Facebook.

But don’t set it and forget it. Use the social media tools regularly.

Barone said she used Twitter to build her personal brand in a way that helped lift and strengthen her company. She stressed that whether you’re using social media for yourself or for your company, know your goals and reasons for getting involved in order to measure success.

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1. Centralize Yourself — Create a central online location so that you control what information is on it. Then connect from that central location to other websites.

Establish an online version of yourself both professionally and personally. Jansons recommended having at least one blog and a personal website with your name as the domain and being active on at least one of each type of social media service so they work as your online resume and base of operations. Then use all of those services as you wish and allow your presence to grow.

2. Know Sites’ Terms — Know a website’s terms of service, privacy policy and the terms under which you’re contributing content. Find out who holds the copyright once that content is uploaded.

3. Document Your Work - Back up web pages, make PDFs of your clips or other work in case the URL may change or get pulled from the website on which it was published. Keep sources’ contact information, interview notes, writing drafts and hardcopies, photos, video files and any relevant reference material.

4. Archive Content – Add your URLs for inclusion in the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive. The database tool makes a copy of a Web page and stores it with a data and timestamp. It gives a physical reference for when the content was online and what was there.

As people get more savvy with social media tools, they may be less likely to play fast and loose with their online identities.

McGeveran said many people find their tastes changing about the amount they choose to reveal about themselves in public. He added that because social networking sites such as Facebook are gaining importance and reach, to expect more problems like this to arise and that the law will need to adjust in response.

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