20 May
Google recently launched its latest in the line of rich data snippets, people cards. This is a unique feature that allows users to share their key contact data with others via a google search and can be seen as a counter to LinkedIn's increasing popularity as a business connectivity and utility software.
Businesses already have access to data snippets via Google My Business features so unless your personal brand is a better presence than your business, this should not affect you much. Unless you are an aspiring influencer with a unique enough name and not enough search presence, this has little utility. Additionally, the usage of by 3rd Parties is still vague, Google has put in place efforts to minimize misuse on the user side by measures like one card per account and control over what data to be displayed but the fact that anyone on the web can search you can harvest your data can become problematic for individuals.
LinkedIn & Facebook also have similar features that allow users to search individuals easily, however, the former put in place several measures to deny the large scale data harvesting such as account logins and the occasional javascript challenge while for Facebook, contact information is rarely available and the new privacy features extend control to users on how they are searched. The current versions of people's cards can be searched by anyone on the web. However, considering the advanced capacities that google has, this issue is likely to be addressed.
To get yourself on google search, take the following steps.
If you are one of those who like to be out there and believe that this feature gives you a benefit, make sure to add key details and links to your social profiles. A carefully drafted bio & a smart-casual picture and help your brand a long way. Naturally, Google will adopt several ranking parameters to determine who gets the top spot in the people card stack so keywords, links, and presence can help you here.
