Twitter lets you upload an image representing yourself. LinkedIn does it. Automattic has created the Gravatar service to let you leave your avatar wherever you leave comments on a wordpress.com blog or a wordpress.org blog that supports avatars. It’s a great service that’s very simple to use.

My good friend, Shane Lewis, is an awesome illustrator. I asked him a few months ago if he would take some time out of his busy schedule to draw me an avatar. I think he did a great job.

Shane says that whenever he draws somebody, that person usually complains because there is something wrong with the drawing. For example, you’ll notice that my avatar has more hair than the real me. I’ll take it. It’s a cartoon. Aren’t obvious things like baldness and big noses supposed to be accentuated in cartoons, avatars, etc. It’s not a portrait.

I’m using my avatar in lots of places. I can’t decide if I should replace the picture on my home page with my avatar. What do you think? I even took the liberty to make it my favicon (look at the url in the browser).

Everybody let me know what you think. And, Shane, thanks for your help. I might be coming to you soon for another drawing.

Something that would make it even better would be if everybody update their profiles often. It’s really easy to forget about your professional network and your LinkedIn profile until you need to use it.

For those of you who belong to LinkedIn, go to your homepage and find feed and subscribe to it. Not only will you be able to help others more effectively, but when you need to connect with others or find a job, it will make it so much easier because other will know exactly what you need. For those who don’t belong to LinkedIn, make sure you do it when you get a chance.

The groups LinkedIn has added has proven useful as well. It would be great if they also offered RSS feeds for updates made to the groups that you belong to.

It looks like this feature was released in the middle of March. Here are some blog posts that describe it better:

• Feature enhancements from Network Updates to LinkedIn News
• LinkedIn Now Offering Network RSS Feeds

What is OpenID?

OpenID.net says it best:

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.

You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free.

For businesses, this means a lower cost of password and account management, while drawing new web traffic. OpenID lowers user frustration by letting users have control of their login.

For geeks, OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity. OpenID takes advantage of already existing internet technology (URI, HTTP, SSL, Diffie-Hellman) and realizes that people are already creating identities for themselves whether it be at their blog, photostream, profile page, etc. With OpenID you can easily transform one of these existing URIs into an account which can be used at sites which support OpenID logins.

How I Did It

I first had to do some research on exactly what I needed to do to make this happen. I found a few sites that ultimately helped me.

• OpenID for Non-SuperUsers – Sam Ruby gets a little geeky in this simple how-to.
• claimID OpenID help – already having a profile on claimID made this a good reference.

After learning what I needed to do, I had to enable my blog by finding and adding the necessary plugins.

• WP-OpenID – lets users log in to a blog or leave comments using their OpenID.
• OpenID Delegate WordPress Plugin – add OpenID delegation abilities to your blog, thus allowing you to sign in to various OpenID supported sites using your blog’s URL.

Why I Did It

Now I can use my site to login to OpenID enabled sites. I have already started my identity/brand here on my blog and continue to add to it.

It’s part of my goal of owning my data.

And while I was OpenID enabling my site, I made it possible for others to use their OpenIDs.

Many people already have an Open ID and don’t know it. I know lots of people with Blogger accounts. Blogger is Open ID enabled. Many sites provide this service. I just wanted to do it from my own site.

I’m sick of creating a profile on just about every web site I visit. And then as I am looking for a job, companies want a copy of my resume (to only store, since they never look at it). This has become especially troublesome lately.

What happens if I update my resume? Each site that has my resume will not know about this change. And I realize this isn’t a problem that needs to be addressed immediately (my immediate needs include finding a job). Currently, I will update my resume on a site if I need to and I want a job bad enough from that employer. But if these employers want the best people, is their current solution the best way to go about it?

The same goes for every site wanting me to create a profile. I have created my share of sites where a profile is useful to each user and hopefully the site provided benefits to each of the users that went to the trouble to provide their personal information.

Let me give an example. When I first started my job search, I created a LinkedIn profile. I have been able to edit my profile, add contacts and have my contacts provide recommendations for me to be included on my profile.

Then last week I found Jobster. They have similar features once you create a profile. You are able to network with other users and have them added to your personal network. Although Jobster made it easy for me to import contacts, I noticed most of the contacts in my network on LinkedIn do not have a profile on Jobster.

I have already emailed some people to ask them to create a LinkedIn profile. Some have done so. Some I sure never will. But do you really think I want to do the same thing by emailing these same people to create a profile on Jobster and add me to the network? Not really.

I recognize that both LinkedIn and Jobster have very similar features, while some features are different. They both are trying to get me to use their network primarily.

What I am looking for is one place to be able to accomplish any task on the web. Ideally, it would be great if LinkedIn and/or Jobster provided an API to allow me and others to create a profile on my own web site and allow all the features that are provided on their own sites.

So when somebody is searching for a Java developer in Seattle, they are provided with my profile information that I updated on my own web site. Once they visit my site, they will also be provided with samples of my work, what I think about, perhaps a beautiful picture of myself. The point is I get to provide them with the information I want them to know and keep it updated on one site.

I know that many sites are starting to implement OpenID into their sites. For those who don’t know, OpenID provides a decentralized single sign-on system. This would make it so I don’t have to register on every site I visit. But not a lot sites support OpenID yet.

Back to the resume problem. It might be cool to have some kind of resume API or tagging system to provide to employers. They can then add it to their tools when trying to find somebody to fulfill a current job opening. I would just have to update my resume on my web site and I would still be found by those employers that need somebody with my skills.

Is there an opportunity here? Possibly.

I have heard a lot about people using their own web sites as a resume. I will be blogging more about that in the future.

Let me know what you think. Why does every site want my resume/profile? Why can’t I keep that information on my own web site?

When I made the goal, I knew I was going to need my blog to promote myself. I didn’t know when I would need it. Had I done it when I actually made the goal, I could possibly be in a better position right now. On the other hand, ihave t could be worse. But I didn’t do it then so I am going to have to do it now.

I have lots of ideas on what I need to do to make this happen. I’m looking for more. How do I use my blog to promote myself? I’ll take it a step further while I don’t have a permanent job. How can I use my blog to find a job? I am confident I will get more ideas from all of you. Then I will share how I do it and you can see for yourself if a blog is helpful to accomplish something.

My take is that blogging is helpful for anything you want to accomplish on the web. Market a company. Sell a house. Lose weight. Make a million dollars. You name it. You just have to know how to do it.

After I learn how to use my blog to get a job, I’ll pursue the million dollars and let you know how I do it.

A good example of using a blog for self-promotion is my good friend Shane Lewis. I grew up with Shane. He is an awesome animator. He found out what a blog was about 18 months ago. He decided to start one and started posting his drawings on it. He’s made a name for himself among the animation community. This will help him big time if he wants to find a job in the future. It will help him in his career for years to come. Shane has worked hard to get to this point. Keep it up Shane!

Hey Shane, if you want to do a little drawing for this site, go for it. I’ll put it up with my redesign in the very near future.

Come on everybody. Have at it. Let me know what I need to do on my blog to help myself find a job. I am open to any ideas.