ÜBERCEO

Nope, but that's a recent Twitter posting from someone with the user name "KenLewisBofA". We wrote a story earlier about the dangers of CEOs not managing their online presence, and how easy it is for erroneous information to be mistaken for fact.  Now the latest big threat to a company's image is "fake" CEOs. 

As almost no social networking sites confirm who you really are, userscan choose any account name, as long as it's not already being used.  So if you choose "Steve Jobs" or "Warren Buffett" and it hasn't been claimed by someone else, it's all yours. 

In this instance, KenLewisBofA is obviously not the real CEO of Bank of America - the posts are clearly meant to be humorous.  But there's little to stop malicious people from making posts or Tweets that could appear to be from YOU.

So how do you stop it?

1. Visit NameChk to see if your desired username is still available at dozens of social networking and bookmarking sites. 
2. If your name or prefered username is available, choose a handful of sites and register it before it's too late.  It becomes unweildy to manage too many sites and services.
3. Actively participate in whatever services you choose so the public can identify what's legitimately from you.