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What if I told you that this scenario is at least half because of you? What if I told you, that your digital persona does not represent the real you and that you will be profiled wrongly because you have not cultivated or nurtured your digital self correctly? Would you begin to understand that you need discipline in your online life? That you need to learn how to present yourself online - at all times, as you have done in the real world since childhood?

It is only fair that our societal code of conduct be extended to the online space. Yes, there are boundaries of how far this should be taken. But if you present a negative image of yourself online, you only have yourself to blame for the most part. The idea of universally available anonymity on the web is coming to an end - and is only available for those who know how to achieve it. That leaves us with our digital self to manage, because like a CV or the messy person in a meeting, people are looking at your digital self, and judging you personally by it.

Profiling software and services are readily available now - especially with the advent of social media. They will tell employers, friends, partners, business partners, and governments whether or not you are 'suitable' for interaction with them - and whether or not you need instruction or support in disciplining your digital self. In business, this is a double-edged sword. You can assess your interactions with other people via the technically accurate, but 'refracted' lense of online profiling. You'll get a picture of them, and it will be accurate according to the information presented to the tools you've used. But it is not a complete picture - nor an undistorted one. Like most things, you'll need to use this source of information as one amongst many to draw conclusions about the people you interact with. As, on the other edge of the sword, they will do the same for you.The danger comes from relying on the information presented by these tools too much. Without expertise, wisdom, experience, interpretation and restraint provided by real human insight, these tools and services are ineffectual.

In summary - If you are going to start profiling the digital self of those you interact with in business especially - for HR, Security or Safety reasons and beyond - you need to do it right, and seek a careful provider to work with in this regard. Like any other apparent 'magic technology' in business, it only provides good value if used correctly, expertly, and with significant care to ensure it remains 'in its place' within your business and life. This is more difficult than it seems - as demonstrated by apparently democratic and progressive governments and institutions around the world abusing these tools, and degrading their true value. I'll leave you with one final "what if I told you?".

What if I told you that your business or organisation could have its digital index or profile developed for it, based on the aggregated digital-self profiles of its staff? Would your business come out well? Or not?


Ben Timberley uk.linkedin.com/in/bentimberley

Director - Egality Communities


Feel free to share your feedback on this article @SP_index and include the hash tag #onlinesocialprofiling.


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Fired for Facebook, #ihatemyboss, #worstjobever – individuals are causing social media press scandals and embarrassment for their employers all across the UK and as a result pre-employment online checking has been brought into sharp focus. Ben Timberley, Director of Egality Communities remembers the age before the internet.


Your Digital Self - When Social Profiling Bites


I remember an age before the internet. I remember letters, faxes, pagers, telephones, communication when communication could catch up with you - not the other way around like it is today.  Nobody could have foreseen the mind-blowing changes that the advent of the internet would bring to the world.  Many people had amazing ideas and forecasts of what would happen - many were right, whilst others were just plain silly. Plenty of these predictions have yet to materialise.

One prediction made long before the internet appeared, was a statement that "Big Brother IS WATCHING YOU!"; by a certain Mr George Orwell. He predicted a nation under surveillance by a huge network of cameras, watching everything we did, recording everything we said. Conform to the wishes of Big Brother, and everything will be just fine. Disobey however… and your chances of an easy life just got slimmer.

I mention the most famous Orwellian prediction because a new phenomenon has in recent years started to appear on the internet. The 'Digital Self' has begun to affect our 'Real Self' through a variety of different means - a scenario where your internet-based life has repercussions for your offline life.  Whether it's being arrested for an ill-conceived Tweet, finding fame through a rarified YouTube video, or being head-hunted for a job due to a well-structured and exemplary LinkedIn profile. What you say, do, show or reveal on the internet can and will be findable, recordable and usable by those with the right tools and know-how to do so. The internet itself is one giant digital Orwellian camera watching everything you do in a particular part of your life. The recent revelations about GCHQ, the NSA and other government institutions and corporations having access to what was considered 'private' personal data via the net, highlights this issue spectacularly.

This 'snapshot', or better, this on-going 'reality show' starring YOU is a source of information about you that is unparalleled in the world.  Never before has this much personal information about you been floating around in the digital ether, freely available for someone to come along and grab. The vast majority of it got there with your permission - there is only a very small percentage of it that you did not submit to the internet at some point in your digital life.

Imagine if computer programs were available that could scrape together all of this information about you, and turn it into a profile. A portfolio of your comments, sayings, thoughts, habits, likes, dislikes, social interactions, insults, emotions, purchases, troubles and much more. Imagine then, if these profiles were used to define the opportunities you would receive in life, whether or not you get that promotion at work, the tax break you're badly needing for your family, or custody of the children in your divorce proceedings? If this were the case, the uncaring and whimsical nature of your online life would be smashed to pieces within the ruins of your offline life - because you would now know just how important your DIGITAL SELF actually is.Your digital persona, or more importantly, the digital BRAND OF YOU would need to be safe, acceptable, purchasable, clear in intent and message, and most of all - managed; if you are to avoid being 'profiled' as something you are not.

I can tell you now, that we live in this world I describe, and it is only going to become more obvious. The Orwellian cameras come in the form of computer programs, Big Brother in the form of personality 'censors' designated by governments, institutions and corporations. Step outside of the prescribed 'criteria', and you'll notice things get difficult in your offline and online life very quickly.

So far so scary.