The internet is all pervasive, it is every where. We have all used it for good and moaned about it when it is bad. We have become a society whose first resource is Google but when was the last time you Googled yourself? We have all done it, a morbid curiosity about what is available about us ‘out there’. You might have been surprised or disappointed by what you found. Intrigued that someone else with your name has such extreme views or embarrassed that your children have posted a ridiculous picture of you from last Christmas. Perhaps a more sobering thought is how many of your clients have Googled you? It is a normal thing to do, how do we find an address or phone number these days without Google and who is not curious about the person they have got an appointment with that afternoon?
So let’s try it. Obviously the less common your name, the easier it will be to find information specific to you, but more importantly, if other people with the same name come up in the results can your clients tell which one is you?
The first step is to sign out of all your social media and Google your name. It is worth trying various combinations, if you are called Phillip but known as Phil try both of those, also try with optometrist, optician DO, etc, after your name. Next try with your name and where you live. Try entering the town you live in and then try the town you work in. The next thing is to search social media, repeat the exercise on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram.
All of this may take some time but it is worth investing the time to look at what other people can find out about you. Next we need to look at the results. What has come up on Google? Your business address, maybe your business registration details, such as who the directors are, and possibly a mention in the optical press. What about on social media? It is surprising what a few clicks will reveal. Are there any embarrassing pictures of you or your family and what about your home address and phone number? Can you find personal information such as birthday, age, and relationship status? You might have been careful and not written them down, but what about the information available from photos. A picture of you at your 40th birthday party on St Patrick’s Day that has been shared by someone else can reveal info that can be pieced together to form an identity.
This may all seem fairly minor apart from the potential for identity theft but what about things that might impact on your professional reputation?. Do you have any inappropriate social links? We cannot stop people following us on Twitter but we can avoid re-tweeting things that contain offensive language or political views. Try to look at your posts from the point of view of someone who does not know you. A post that is sarcastic and is seen that way by your friends might look very different to someone who has never met you. If someone with the same name is posting is it obvious it is not you?
Another area that we need to look at is the issue of patient confidentiality. It is important professionally to discuss patient cases. In fact the importance is recognised as it is part of the CPD requirement for optometrists and dispensing opticians in the UK. However, we need to be careful when we discuss cases in online forums. It is important any patient we are talking about remains truly anonymous. No one would dream of putting the patients full name but a comment such as ‘Only saw one patient this afternoon and they are dying from cancer’ makes it very easy for a patient to identify themselves if they know that it is you commenting. This is something that can sneak up on you. It is becoming the norm for people to research conditions on the internet both before and after seeking a medical opinion. Many will actively seek out internet forums to do this, meaning what was once a professional-only domain can very quickly become an open forum accessed by anyone.
Having looked at what is freely available on the internet how do you go about curating your internet presence? The most important thing is to check your privacy settings. All the social media platforms allow you to restrict access to your posts, ideally you should set this to friends only. Some of the settings only apply from the time you click them so it is worth checking that you have restricted access to old posts as well.
Be ruthless, remove old posts and delete ‘friends’ that you do not know well. While it is flattering to have lots of cyber friends and followers the reality is that you would not choose to be friends with a lot of them in the real world so why should you trust them in the e-world? If there are any embarrassing photos that you would rather not see the light of day untag yourself and ask the original poster to remove them.
You might have considered changing your name or emigrating when you saw your old posts but using a variation on your name to differentiate between work and social media is a good idea, as is having different dedicated email addresses. For instance Philip Evans might be Philip J Evans professionally and Phil Evans socially. It is not a complete change of identity but it does add a level of demarcation between the two.
It is impossible to completely address the issue of other people with the same name but you can make the distinction easier to tell. Make sure you have a good quality professional photo on your reputable profiles such as your practice website and Linkedin. This means people will recognise you and not confuse you with other people with the same name who are tagged in inappropriate photographs.
Finally you can create a web presence. Take to social media, tweet and blog, and add forum posts and articles with a professional theme. You can use someone else’s reputation by commenting on their posts and sharing their content. Google’s algorithms like new content and curating your new posts will effectively ‘hide’ your older ones.
We may not be able to put the genie back in the bottle but at least we can control who it reaches and what it does.