The Four Hour Work Week Project – Allison Reynolds

Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;

Lyrics Cheers – Everybody Knows Your Name.

I share my name (Allison Reynolds) with a character from the 80′s teen flick The Breakfast Club. While it is an interesting piece of information (and one I wrote into a trivia competition once) it is also somewhat of a pain in the bum when it comes to determining who is trying to find me personally on the net.

I am still not sure if I want my name as my brand, or just because the human need to be recognised as an individual is strong in me. Or maybe I have a HUGE ego and there is no room for anyone else.

The steps I have taken to regain my name is to register www.allisonreynolds.com and www.allison-reynolds.com. I post comments under Allison Reynolds, and although I twitter under AllisonR I own AllisonReynolds as well. As yet I have not given the domain any social bookmarking love so I am expecting I can creep up a fair bit further than my current rank of 9.

I think my goal is obtainable and am grateful i don’t have a more recognisable name. Imagine being a Kylie Minogue or a Steve Jobs and trying to claim your corner of the internet. Mind you, most users are still back in the nickname era and are happy with Geekgirl25 as their online persona. Moving into the new transparency of the internet will be hard for some to embrace. The paranoia of identity theft and credit card fraud still is a heavy pall over some internet users’ experiences.

Hopefully as people become more technically savvy and are aware of how and what people really can do on the internet that fog of fear will blow away somewhat. The fact that your name and address is usually in the phone book and that giving your credit card to swipe in a restaurant is more of a give away as to who you are and where you live and how to rip you off, than putting your name in a domain on the internet or using Facebook.

I would add there is also the scariness of putting yourself out there front and centre for scrutiny. Transparency is a difficult concept to those that prefer to watch from the sidelines

This quote in regards to internet transparency partially sums up my feelings about being more transparent on the internet.

The trick is not to do anything you’d be ashamed of. - Bob Metcalfe, Ethernet inventor, founder of 3Com Corporation, former CEO of InfoWorld, now a venture capitalist and partner in Polaris Venture Partners; internet user since 1970

I would add and if you do do something stupid, get over it pretty quickly.