When someone Googles you, they will often find your blog, forum posts, or the occasional article with your name in it–but if you are a non-celebrity, the vast majority of them will be met with social networking sites first. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Ning, LinkedIn; these are just a few of the social networking sites that someone is likely to see when they punch a name into a search engine like Google or Bing. The article at the bottom of this blog posts mentions how social networking sites affect your online reputation by showing up first in your search results. It is an interesting read and one everyone should take a look at.

http://mashable.com/2009/12/16/community-engagement/