Although this has nothing to do with podcasting, it has everything to do with the importance of protecting your online image in the social media space.

Our Governor General, the Queen’s reprsentative in Canada, is a Black woman. Born in Haiti, Michaëlle Jean (pronounced me-kile shon) fled the dictatorship on her birth island when she was a child and with her family, settled in Quebec.

Her rise to one of the top jobs in the country has been lauded as a true success story and she’s adored by many for her rags to riches experience.

However, the picture you see on the left at the top isn’t Michaëlle Jean. I have no clue who it is, but unfortunately, a Canadian Press (CP) article that ran on Yahoo Canada about the rise of violence against women showed that picture of a stranger as being our Governor General.

The picture on the bottom right is indeed our Governor General. I can definitely see a difference, so how Yahoo! Canada (or maybe it was CP) could make this mistake with one of our heads of state is a mystery to me. Especially since traditional media has so many layers to go through before a story is approved for publication.

While I’m not going to surmise why this happened, I will comment that this is a prime reason why it’s important to have at least 1 official picture and insist that it be used in all materials that reference you.

Now, many of us won’t have much control over the images that are run in traditional media. Many newspapers and magazines prefer to run their own photos of you as it’s fresh and different.

But in the social media space, I recommend that you have 1 official photo of yourself that you share with other podcasters, bloggers and anyone who wants to profile or promote you online.

And if you’re curious to see what images are floating around of you, start with Google Images. Just plug in your name, then analyze the results.

Technorati: canada, Politics, Media, canadian news, Canadian Politics, governor general, Michaelle Jean