Pew Report Highlights Need For Online Identity Management In Google Search Era

A Pew Internet & American Life Project study has found that 60 percent of online users are not worried about the data available about them online in an era when "Googling" for personal or business information has become commonplace.

That lack of concern about your online "brand" in a digital era could be foolhardy given how much is at risk for internet users. That is one of the themes in the Pew Internet & American Life Project report titled: "Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency." The report, released Sunday, says online profiles have increased "the size of people's digital footprints, but few adult Internet users have made digital identity management a routine part of their online lives."

Nolan Bayliss, cofounder of Naymz, an online reputation management website and professional networking site headquartered in Chicago, said that professional online brand management is the aim of Naymz.com. "We understand in the future everyone will have their own brand so what we do is brand reputation management for individuals," he said.

Naymz, which bills itself as a site aimed at "empowering reputable professionals," is a community-centric site that includes a "RepScore" to create a "confidence index around every user on the site." Part of that includes inviting up to 10 references to vouch for your online profile accuracy, says Bayliss. Naymz also includes an identity verification component through a partnership with Trufina.com, he said.

"Right now the web is a free-for-all," said Bayliss. "Anyone can create information online and create false identities. The idea here is to verify who people are with a "RepScore" that "enhances" your online reputation, he said.

Online brand management is particularly important given the propensity of everyone from job recruiters to colleagues and other professionals to "Google" your name, says Bayliss. He says that as much as 30 percent of the searching done on Google is "people searching."

Naymz itself has found that on average there are "200 searches per month" for any given name, said Bayliss. "If you took 100 random names and looked up search activity, you are going to have about 200 searches per name," he said.

NEXT: Do You Know Who Is Searching Your Name?