14 DAY TRIAL // Google has added an interesting new tool to its Account Dashboard which is designed to give users a clearer picture of what information about them is found online and how Google may learn about it. That sounds like a pretty good idea, but, in practice, the feature leaves somewhat to be desired.
"Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you -- whether a mention in a blog post, a photo tag or a reply to a public status update," Andreas Tuerk, Product Manager at Google, wrote.
"When someone searches for your name on a search engine like Google, the results that appear are a combination of information you’ve posted and information published by others," he added.
"Today we’ve released a new tool to help make it easier to monitor your identity on the web and to provide easy access to resources describing ways to control what information is on the web," he announced.
The idea is to make it easier for users to manage or at least know about the information about them available on the web. The new tool is available in the Google Dashboard, labeled "Me on the Web."
On the left side, you'll notice a number of links to your various profiles on the web, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and so on, provided you have a Google Profile and have added these links to it. Everything there has to be added by you, so there shouldn't be anything too surprising or enlightening.
On the right, you'll notice several links to Google help pages on how to manage your online identity and how to remove content you don't want from the search results or Google services.
The only really useful tool and the one you may not know about is a way of setting up search alerts. This way, when Google stumbles upon a mention of your name or one of the email addresses Google knows are associated with you, you will get a notification email alerting you to the fact.