Building a Web Identity Part I

A fresh start

I like many people have had various “identities” over time on the web. Since I registered Wump.com on my second day online, mine have invariably been centered on the word “wump” and derivatives thereof, but now, as I start a new blog which will act both as my personal and professional space, what to do?

I’ll tell you what - a new start!

It’s funny, but it feels liberating to pick up and recreate myself online, so I thought I’d blog about it.

While I will probably retain another persona, my new public facing Internet Identity is “gnoshme”. Why?

Unique

I just googled it - and got nothing. Nada. I own Moshme.com which was a candidate, but that brings up some arabic sites, so I’ll steer clear. Gnoshme it is.

Available

I’ve just registered:

• gnoshme.com
• digg user gnoshme
• del.icio.com account gnoshme
• that-very-same-thing@gmail.com
• Screen name that-very-same-thing on IM
• Twitter account
df
• ..and more

Interesting and different

Well at least I think so, and in a world where word of mouth is becoming increasingly irrelevant, that “difference” isn’t a big deal. Most people will know me by sight - online.

Next Steps

I’ll keep you in the loop. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Google to start picking things up.. and when I start getting spam. Stuff like that.

I’ll have to put my friends through the inconvenience of changing some references to me, but if if they won’t I can simply stop sending them Christmas cards and forget that the ever existed!