Google (
) is the dominant search engine, with over 63% market share. Aside from it being a place to discover product reviews and corporate information, it is the personal brand destination of choice.
When someone Googles your name, the results are telling of who you are and what you do. In other words, your Google results are your resume, both professionally and personally. Companies seek to rank number one in Google’s search results for their brand name as well as terms in their industry, and you should as well.
Before we get started, I want you to Google your name right now. Copy the results to a word processing document and circle the results that have to do with your name. After you do that, highlight the positive ones in green, the neutral ones in grey and the negative ones in red. Only do this for the top 10 results. What you’ll notice is that you either have a presence on Google or not and you’re either positively portrayed in Google or you’re not.
What does Google say about you?
Everyone uses Google, from journalists to teachers to your friends and managers. There is no time in this disruptive world to go through the first 90 results in Google after a single search, so the majority of people stop after the first page and some after the first three results!
Google might say that you are unqualified for a job or that you aren’t “dating material.” Celebrities have their own Google woes. Let’s examine the Google results for A-Rod, Michael Phelps and Chris Brown. Each celebrity recently had a personal branding disaster, which is observable in their Google results.
A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez): A-Rod is the highest paid and one of the most respected professional baseball players on the New York Yankees.
Google “A-Rod“: You’ll find about three of four results calling attention to his steroid abuse. He tested positive for steroids six years ago while playing for the Texas Rangers during a three-year period.
Michael Phelps: Michael is an American swimmer, who has won 14 career Olympic gold medals, which is the most by any Olympian and by the end of 2008 he held seven world records in swimming.
Google “Michael Phelps“: You’ll find “michael phelps smoking weed” as a related search term for his name, as well as results that highlight him doing drugs.
Chris Brown: Chris is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter, dancer and actor. His first album went double platinum at the age of 16.
Google “Chris Brown“: You’ll find his current LAPD investigation for assault following an alleged domestic violence felony battery against Rihanna.
How to control your Google results
These celebrities’ names once garnered positive Google results, through each homerun, gold medal and platinum album achieved. Although, they had pages and pages of positive results, it only took one incident for their reputation to be in jeopardy. The second the press filed their stories, their Google results were rearranged and negative results appeared. Luckily for them, they can still turn their results around by working hard to clean their record and earn positive articles from the press and bloggers alike.
At the celebrity level, you would need some aggressive PR to change these results because top tier outlets such as ESPN have a high PageRank in Google. For the average person (as long as you have a unique name), here are some strategies that will help you control your Google results.
1. Register for a blog and social networks
One way to take control for your results is by owning or renting web properties that carry your name. Blogs and social networks allow you to do just that. A blog allows you to continuously develop content under a single URL. As your blog generates content, Google will be pinged and rank it higher under certain keywords.
Make sure your blog, in some way, connects to your name. For instance, if your name is the URL or the title of the blog has your name in it, it will rank high for your name. Blogs have high SEO value because there is a lot of content that people can link to. I wouldn’t recommend that everyone starts a blog because you don’t want to post once and then leave it on the shelf for three months; it would be looked down upon by your visitors. Instead, start a blog because you’re passionate about a topic and want your voice to be heard.
The largest and most credible social networks have a high Google PageRank. PageRank is a measurement of importance in Google from 0 to 10. Twitter (), LinkedIn (
), FriendFeed (), and Facebook () have a PageRank of 8, which might not surprise you. They gain links from users linking to their profiles. Try to use unique identifiers for your profile pages. For instance, if your name is Peter Smith, you’ll want the “linkedin.com/in/petersmith distinct URL for your profile. Anywhere you can use your full name, I encourage you to do so.
Aside from the typical social networks, the leading “traditional media” brands also have social networks accounted for. BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur and The New York Times all have social networks that you can join today for free. They all allow you to have your own profile, a chance to network with peers, high PageRank and massive credibility.
2. Write for other blogs
Much like what I do for Mashable, you can guest post on other blogs, which can take up some of those top ten spots in Google for your name. In general, becoming a content creator will help you take charge of your brand.
3. Create a social media resume
As I stated in my previous Mashable () post “HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume,” a social media resume is optimized to rank high in Google for your name and can support your professional development and job searching needs.
4. Start a wiki under your name
A wiki is an online document that can be edited in real-time and tracked. Pbwiki.com, a service for creating free wikis, has a PageRank of 7, which means that if you use your full name when registering, there’s a good chance it will rank high for you. You could turn the wiki into a resume, a list of your favorite things to do or a listing of websites.
5. Become a celebrity/micro-celeb
When you become more famous, people start to notice and you might wake up one day with your own Wikipedia () page! If this happens, you better believe that it will rank in the top three results for your name. Don’t create your own page though because people will find out (namely the wiki-moderators) and it will be taken down. Becoming internet famous isn’t out of reach anymore, especially when the cost of admission is $0.00.
6. Bond with communities
Whether you join a Ning network or start a Ning network, they all tend to rank well in search engines and are great places to network and meet like-minded people. I would also recommend blog communities such as Social Media Today, depending on what you blog about. Other great examples are Momlogic, and Geeks (owned by Chris Pirillo).
7. Create an eBook
David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave, says that you can get people all around the world talking about you if you give away a free eBook. Instead of making people fill out lead generation forms, give it away for free and you’ll see ten times the eyeballs. Not only that, but with the proper “triggers,” such as a Digg () button, people will share it and link to it, which increases its Google PageRank.
8. Beg people to write about you
Well, maybe don’t beg. You might sound desperate and annoying. You shouldn’t go asking people to write about you. They should do it based on the quality of your content. If you have friends in the blogosphere, they will gladly support you by writing about you. I’ve had people ask me to interview them. Never, ever do that. Join their community first, add value to their discussions and then, over time, they may be interested in promoting your brand.
Today has been dominated by news and excitement surrounding Google WaveGoogle Wave
, GoogleGoogle’s new real-time communication platform that will launch to the public later this year. In fact, there’s been so much buzz that you might just not have enough time to read the thousands of articles being released on Google’s biggest product launch in recent memory.
To make sense of it all, we have compiled key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave. This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications, (i.e. the Twitter Wave app Twave), and goes over ways to keep yourself informed. We know you’re excited about Google Wave, so here’s what we think you should know:
What is Google Wave?
While we suggest reading our article on the launch of Google Wave for more detailed information, here’s the sum of it: Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.
Google Wave has a lot of innovative features, but here are just a few:
- Real-time: In most instances, you can see what someone else is typing, character-by-character.
- Embeddability: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.
- Applications and Extensions: Just like a FacebookFacebook
application or an iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.
- Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared. Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own commentary within a developing conversation.
- Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers.
- Playback: You can playback any part of the wave to see what was said.
- Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and “bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.
- Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.
While these are only a few of the many features of Google Wave, it’s easy to see why people are extremely excited.
Google Wave was the brainchild of a team based out of Sydney, Australia. The core team members are two brothers, Jens and Lars Rasmussen, and lead project manager Stephanie Hannon, all of whom were involved in Google MapsGoogle Maps previously. Google Wave was announced today at Google’s I/O Developer conference, although the product will not be available to the public for several months.
Terminology
Google Wave actually has its own lingo – yes, you have to learn a few definitions if you’re going to really understand this new communication platform. Having knowledge of these terms will help you understand more about Google’s newest project.
- Wave: A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just one person, or it can include a group of users or even robots (explained below). The best comparison I can make is that it’s like your entire instant messaging (IM) history with someone. Anything you’ve ever discussed in a single chat or conversation is a wave.
- Wavelet: A wavelet is also a threaded conversation, but only a subset of a larger conversation (or a wave). It’s like a single IM conversation – a small part of a larger conversation and a larger history. Wavelets, though, can be created and managed separately from a wave.
- BlipBLIP
- Document: A document actually refers to the content within a blip. This seems to refer to the actual characters, words, and files associated with a blip.
- Extension: An extension is a mini-application that works within a wave. So these are the apps you can play with while using Wave. There are two main types of extenisons: Gadgets and Robots
- Gadgets: A gadget is an application users can participate with, many of which are built on Google’s OpenSocial platform. A good comparison would be iGoogle gadgets or Facebook applications.
- Robots: Robots are an automated participant within a wave. They can talk with users and interact with waves. They can provide information from outside sources (i.e. TwitterTwitter
- Embeded Wave: An embeded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the conversation within it and place it on your website. Users could use this as a chatroom, as a way to contact you, or for something more.
Wave Gadgets
A Wave Gadget is one of two types of Google Wave extensions. Gadgets are fully-functional applications. According to Google, gadgets are primarily for changing the look and feel of waves, although this seems to only scratch the surface of the potential of a wave gadget.
First: almost any iGoogle or OpenSocial gadget can run within Google Wave. That means thousands of applications that have been already created will work in Google Wave. Second: a gadget built within Google Wave can take advantage of live interaction with multiple users. This means something like a live online game with active participation from all users. In that way, it has similarities to Facebook or MySpaceMySpace
applications, which take advantage of your friend network to make games, quizzes, and applications more meaningufl and useful.
Gadgets are specific to individual waves, rather than to specific users. Thus, it’s not like having a Facebook app on your profile – the gadget belongs to everyone within the wave. They also do not have titles, to better integrate with the actual conversation. Some of the gadgets already built include a Sudoku gadget, Bidder (which turns your wave into an auction), and Maps (which allows for collaboration on a Google Map).
For a more technical explanation, be sure to check out Google’s Wave Gadgets Tutorial.
Wave Robots
Robots are the other type of Google Wave extension. Robots are like having another person within a Google Wave conversation, except that they’re automated. They’re a lot like the old IM bots of the past, although far more robust. Robots can modify information in waves, interact with users, communicate with others waves, and pull information from outside sources.
Because it acts like a user, you can define its behavior based on what happens in the chat. You could build one as simple as “change the word dog to the word cat” or one as complex as a fully-functional debugger. We’ll probably start seeming some very advanced robots in the near future.
Some of the robots already in service include Debuggy (an in-wave debugger), Stocky (which pulls stock prices based on stock quote mentions), and Tweety (the Twave robot, which displays tweets inside of a wave).
A more advanced explanation is available at Google’s Wave Robots Overview.
Wave Embeds
Wave embeds are a little more complex than embedding a YouTubeYouTube video onto your blog, yet in the end, that’s really what Google Wave Embeds are: a way to take Google Wavesgoogle waves onto a third party website. Embedded Waves support many of the functions of the actual Google Wave client, including dragging-and-dropping files.
While the Wave Embeds is still very early stage, Google has already built two: YouTube Playlist Discuss and Multiple Extensions Embed. The former allows you to discuss a YouTube video via a wave and the latter allows for interaction with multiple waves on the same page.
One possibility: Google Wave Embeds may be a real-time replacement to static comments. If Google perfects wave embeds, you could even see YouTube.com comments replaced with waves, although it is way too early to make any calls on the potential of this.
Google’s Wave Embed Developer’s Guide has more advanced information embedding waves.
Furthering your Google Wave education
Still can’t get enough of Google Wave? While information is sparse, hopefully this collection of links will help you understand this new product even more.
- MashableMashable
- Google Wave Federation Protocol: Google has provided some community principles, architecture information, and more detailed definitions on their Wave protocol webpage.
- Google Wave API: For developers interested in building applications for Google Wave, be sure to check out the Wave API website.
- Google Wave Updates: Want to be informed the second Google Wave is available? Here’s the sign-up form.
Most people think of Google Maps () in terms of finding a place or business, or getting directions from one point to another. Others use the satellite images and terrain mapping features. But there are tons of other uses out there for Google () maps.
From mapping the weather and news to mapping things that aren’t maps at all, like paintings or magazines, Google Maps has a lot to offer. And there are free tools available out there for those who want to use the Google Maps API without doing a bunch of coding. Here are more than 100 of the best mashups and tools out there right now.
Have a favorite Google Maps tool or mashup? Tell us more about it in the comments.
Travel and Transportation
Mapness – An online travel journal that interfaces with Google Maps to show where you’ve been.
The AA Route Planner – Plan trips around the UK.
Montreal Metro Map – A complete map of Montreal Metro stations.
TubeJP – A London Tube journey planner using Google Maps that also incorporates a search function to find local businesses.
District Taxi Fare Estimator – A taxi fare estimator provided by the Washington Post that shows travel routes in Google Maps.
Washington, CD Taxicab Zones – A zone map that covers each taxicab zone and is zoomable, unlike the ones in the actual cabs that are poorly labeled and hard to read.
Dublin Public Transport Advisor – A trip planner for public transportation in and around Dublin.
Most Dangerous Roads on Earth – A map of the most dangerous roads in the world.
Perfect Escapes – A travel search engine that features a click-through Google Maps search interface.
hotspotr – A map showing more than 14,875 wifi hotspots all over the country.
safe2pee.org – Find a public bathroom anywhere in the country.
Mezzoman – Find a place to meet in the middle of two points on the map.
Wines and Times – Use this map to plan a winery tour anywhere in the United States.
fastfoodmaps.com – Find fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy’s and more, anywhere in the U.S.
Photo Enforced – Get maps of red light cameras in multiple cities across the United States.
World Port Source – Maps of more than 3,100 ports in 189 countries, plus a map to find ports anywhere in the world.
IMB Live Piracy Map 2008 – A map of all of the armed robbery and piracy incidents (both successful and attempted) reported over the past year.
flexTraffic – A map of traffic delays and construction projects across the UK.
Cheap Hotels – A map of more than 66,000 cheap hotels in more than 165 countries that also lets you book online.
NOAA Nautical Maps – A mashup that overlays NOAA nautical maps over Google Maps and allows you to adjust the transparency of each.
News, Weather and Politics
Gaza Conflict YouTube Videos Map – This mashup shows the latest YouTube () videos about the Gaza conflict attached to their locations along the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.
Track This Now – Search for news worldwide or in a specific country (or group of countries) and have news stories marked on a map.
TimeSpace: World – An interactive map from the Washington post that shows current news items linked from a world map.
iMap Weather – An easy way to get current weather conditions and the forecast using a map-based interface.
Barack Obama’s Journey to the White House – A Google Map of Barack Obama’s entire life, from Honolulu to the White House.
RMI’s Oil Imports Map – A mashup that shows all of the U.S.’s oil imports from 1973.
Who is Sick? – Find statistics on a map for illness in your area, everything from allergies and runny noses to fever to stomach aches.
HealthMap – Map of disease cases worldwide, including rabies, salmonella, and more.
Taxpayer Contribution to the Iraq War by State – View how much taxpayers have paid for the Iraq War by state.
Missing Kids Map – A mashup that shows the origins of missing kids (from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) on a Google Map.
Map of Election Conditions in Zimbabwe – A map of the corruption, from vote buying and gerrymandering to abduction and murder, that occurred in elections in Zimbabwe.
MetaCarta GeoSearch News – A map with links to current news stories from all over the world.
Recreation and Entertainment
Theatre In Chicago – An interactive map for Chicago that lists theatres with current and upcoming plays.
Gruvr – A map that shows live music shows at clubs and elsewhere anywhere in the country.
LOST Maps – A map that shows all of the locations mentioned in the ABC television series “Lost”.
The London Knowledge – A map of London that shows tube stations, restaurants, nightclubs and more.
Drive Score – Shows a map of nearby restaurants, schools, hospitals, bars and more for any address and awards points based on what’s close by.
Google Maps Disc Golf Courses – A map of disc golf/frisbee golf courses all over the United States with descriptions and directions.
Live Sports Map – Find sports scores and news on a Google Map that includes stadium and arena satellite views.
FindLakes – Maps for each state showing more than 40,000 lakes around the country.
SafeFoodFinder – A map showing Seattle area restaurants and what their health department inspection scores have been.
Broadway2Day.com – A map of current Broadway shows with information on price, genre, run, and more.
Environment and Climate Change
The World’s Most Polluted Cities – A map with geotagged photos of polluted cities all over the world (though mostly in Asia).
San Francisco Solar Map – This interactive map shows residential, municipal, commercial, and other solar projects around San Francisco.
RoofRay Solar Calculator – Find your house on their Google Maps interface, trace your roof, determine the roof’s orientation and pitch, and get a solar estimate.
Climate Change Wales – Interactive maps that show what flood levels will be based on rising sea levels from climate change.
United States Sea Level Rise Map – A map with geotagged photos that show the impact of different sea level rises in cities around the United States.
Flood Maps – Shows what new coastlines would be for sea level rises between 1M and 14M.
MapEcos – A map showing U.S. industrial facilities that use toxic chemicals and includes information about each facility.
Wasting Away – A map showing all 1,623 superfund sites in the United States, including sites that have been cleaned up.
DaylightMap.com’s Clouds – A map showing regularly-updated cloud cover overlaid on a Google Map of the world.
Prescription Drugs in Drinking Water – A map showing the levels of prescription drugs in various cities around the country.
Carma – A map showing the world’s highest CO2 emitting power plants.
Photo and Media Maps
Panedia – Maps of places all over the world with placemarkers linked to panoramic images.
Driving Detroit – A map of Detroit that includes placemarkers that link to photos, slideshows and other media.
Star Viewer – A Google Map of the night sky that includes YouTube videos of different stars, galaxies, and star systems.
Games and Simulators
googleDrive – Another Google Maps driving simulator.
Real World Racer – A car racing game in Google Maps that is surprisingly challenging.
2D Driving Simulator – A Google Maps Flash driving simulator.
Pedestrian and Bike Maps
Where is the path (or street) – A mashup that shows regular street and footpath maps next to a Google Maps satellite view so that you can see things not indicated on the Google Map.
99Trails.com Philadelphia Map – A map showing walking and biking trails around the Philadelphia metro area.
NYC Bike Maps – A map of New York City’s bike paths, lanes and greenways.
ActiveTrails – A map of trails throughout the United States and France that allows users to contribute trail information.
HikeCT – A map of hiking trails in Connecticut.
I Need A Bike – Find bike rental locations in and around Paris, Lyon, and Marseille.
Information, Education and History
Cassini – An overlay of 18th century maps over Google Maps that lets you adjust the transparency of either layer.
mapdango – A mashup that teaches about a new place every day, showing news, weather, and more.
MapsZipcode – A Google Maps mashup that shows zip codes nationwide.
London Profiler – Get maps of demographic and other public information in London.
Solar Eclipses – A list of solar eclipses from 1961 to the present that link to maps showing the path of the eclipse over the earth’s surface.
Area Code Maps – An area code map overlay.
BibleMap.org – An interactive map of locations from the Bible.
World Heritage Google Map – A Google Map of UNESCO World Heritage Sites worldwide that includes photos.
MailboxMap – Find a USPS or UPS mailbox anywhere in the country.
UFOmaps.com – A map of UFO sightings all over the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Qibla Locator – Find which direction Muslims should pray in from anywhere in the world.
PlaceOpedia – A map of Wikipedia () articles linked to their locations.
Meteor Craters – A map of meteor impact craters around the world.
World’s Creepiest Places – Just as the name implies, this map shows information about the world’ creepiest places.
Housing and Real Estate
Roomapes – An apartment finder app with a Google Maps interface.
CribQ – An apartment finder for San Francisco that interfaces apartment listings, Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth (for a birdseye view, streetview and WalkScore).
SuiteMatch.com – Find shared office space and see a map that shows all of the amenities surrounding that space including coffee, food, bars and gyms.
Non-Map Uses
The Kremer Collection – Use a Google Maps interface to browse a large collection of paintings.
zkimmer – An online publication viewer for newspapers and magazines that uses the Google Maps UI.
Other Maps
Samknows – Find a house or building on a map of the UK and see what types of broadband internet are available at that address.
If I dig a very deep hole, where will I end up? – This map shows you where you would end up if you dug a hole straight through the earth at any point on the globe.
If the earth were a sandwich – This pair of maps shows you the point on the earth that is the exact opposite of any other point you select.
RoadlessLand.org – Map of all of the designated road-free areas in the United States.
Google Maps Recent Edits – A constantly updating map that shows the most recent edits to Google Maps.
DishPointer – An application that shows you which direction to point your satellite dish based on your address.
DaylightMap.com – A map of where daylight currently is on earth as well as the lights appearing on the night side.
We Tell Stories – A map of the stories of six different authors that lets you follow the trail of their stories around the world.
Directories
MapTube – A directory with nearly 200 different mashup maps available.
Popular Google Maps – Browse popular Google Maps covering a variety of topics.
Tools
Map Builder – A quick and easy Google Maps mashup builder.
MapMyPage – A simple tool to put Google Maps on your website.
Map My Life – An easy to use mashup that will map your life and show a timeline using an XML file you provide.
The Google Maps Image Cutter – A free application for cutting any image into tiles for use with the Google Maps interface.
Automatic Tile Cutter – Another app for cutting any image into tiles to use with Google Maps.
GMapCreator – A tool to make creating thematic Google Maps easier.
Geo Twitter – GeoCode your tweets and plot them on an embeddable map.
Mapmsg.com – An app that lets you put a message (smoke signals, crop circles, etc.) into a map and then email it to anyone.
Dual Maps – Free mapping tools to combine different Google Maps views as well as Microsoft Virtual Earth maps.
maps-for-free.com – Get relief layers for Google Maps free for creating your own mashups.
HeatMapAPI – Use this API to create your own heat maps to overlay Google Maps.
PdMarker – An app to help you easily customize Google Maps marker behavior.