BenCrowder.net

Yesterday I came across a PostBubble article on claimID, a new site that allows you to manage your online identity:

Who needs normal? Normal is boring, normal is status quo, normal never gets the spotlight and normal is well…normal. But there is something else to be said about Normal. Normal means that everybody knows it, everybody uses it, and everybody has heard of it. Email is normal, searching on Google is normal, and driving a car to work is normal. When it comes to business, becoming normal is an objective.

I thought of all this when I was reading through the buzz on claimID and had the feeling that there were bees inside my skull. I saw the potential, I saw the value, and I saw the spark, but there was still something seriously wrong with my head and I couldn’t quite figure out what was missing from the picture. It finally dawned on me that all of this speculation and analysis was like trying to break down the meaning of life. ClaimID is one of those ideas that can’t be simply broken down because there is only one clear way to describe what they are going to do: claimID is going to become Normal.

After a description like that, I definitely had to check it out! :) So I went to claimID.com and signed up as a beta user. (It’s free until the beta period ends, after which the price will go up just a tiny bit — $5 per year. Per year! :))

Rather than repeat what claimID says quite well on their about page, I’ll quote:

Imagine that you are applying for a job. You know that your prospective employer is going to search for your name online, and since you’re a rational person, that worries you. How will your employer know what online stuff is actually about you, and not about that other person who shares your name? And what if the good stuff about you online doesn’t mention your full name, or uses a name you no longer go by (such as a maiden name)? How would your prospective employer ever find it? Why do you have to lose out in the eyes of that employer? And the worst part is there’s no way for you to easily influence what search engines say about you.

Enter claimID. ClaimID is a service that lets you claim the information that is about you online. That information is then associated with your name, providing folks an easy way to see what is and isn’t about you online. In doing so, you get to influence the search engines, and provide people more relevant information when they search for you. It’s time to reclaim some power back from the search engines. ClaimID is about letting you have some say in what search engines say about you.

Brilliant idea, really. (And the fact that they’re in the Information and Library Science program at UNC Chapel Hill is cool, since that’s one of the schools I’m considering for my masters degree.) This morning I spent a little bit of time collecting some links for it, and they’re now on my claimID page. It’s a great way to collect everything into a central location. But I do have to say I’m almost embarrassed to link to all the media articles. Oh well. ~sigh~

Now back to that paper which I’ve been laboriously avoiding all day…

[tags]claimID, PostBubble, Web 2.0[/tags]