Find out what’s going up on the web about you or your favorite topics

Do you use Google Alerts yet? Visit: http://google.com/alerts to set notices. It’s free and it’s interesting. It’s essentially an online clipping service. You can put in words or phrases that interest you.

A few years ago, I got a notice for some content and the web using my name and I discovered that someone in Germany was advertising a workshop I was to be doing in a few months time there. The only problem was I was not scheduled to be there and hadn’t agreed to teach a workshop for the group that was advertising it. They had approached me but the fee and the timing weren’t good for me. They had just gone ahead and set the ting up without my permission or agreement. I sent them a strongly worded letter and they took the ad down.

The point is that Google alerted me to this state of affairs. I wouldn’t have had a clue and might have had people who signed up for the ting mad at me, thinking I had flaked out or canceled when I didn’t have anything to do with it.

Use Google Alerts. As Martha Stewart would say, “it’s a good thing.”

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