Personal brand equity
I have written about this before, but this article on Ars Technica has some good points to ponder about. This quote in particular:
The social networking phenomenon is still very new, and people are posting things online without thinking about the future consequences to their careers. Information, pictures, forum comments, jokes, and outdated CVs are now in the public domain and available for anyone.
We all have a personal brand the same way that a company has a brand for its products and services. We invest in developing our brand “education, training, work experience” and we develop our brand equity, that is to say our network of trusted personal contacts, so why don’t we look after this the same way a company does?
Emphasis mine.