I know several other very active and visible people online who use an avatar instead of their picture. I always like to see what the person behind the avatar looks like, but avatars can be really useful for branding and consistency.

Thanks for a thoughtful post and I’m looking forward to reading your blog regularly.

Being an online marketer, In my opinion, it is essential to be “seen” rather than have an avatar and people will quickly recognize you from your picture and make the connections. Being wary that this (identity stealing) can happen I believe is important and at the same time, not to get too paranoid about it… protecting yourself should be automatic. Great post Teeg!

This is a debate that we have to have, and unless the issues are laid out in black and white, people will never understand, or even be aware of them.

The likes of Bigsight, Wink and Intellius are an issue and people need to be alerted to their existence, and the danger posed by their possible misuse.

In a sense, there is no privacy online, because any time we fill in a web form, we run the risk of having that information being passed on to others, or being made public.

I recently found a website claiming to be a social networking giant in the making, and offering to let me become a founding member, with extra privileges.

There was no ‘about us’, and no identification of any sort, but there was a huge sign up form, with what I had for breakfast, and what I was planning for dinner seemingly the only details missing.

This is where the danger lies, and people need to be wary of just what info they allow others to know about themselves…

Allan Cockerill’s last blog post..Free Software Monitors Web Sites