Which is your most important online persona?

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Having a discussion a few days ago with a running buddy who is in HR. She was telling me how, when she interviews potential candidates, she asks for one or two online personas – She tells them that before she Googles them, she’ll go to those specific personas and attempt to form an opinion that will be used to counter anything she finds on Google.

Keep in mind, this woman is head of HR for a major Fortune 500. She doesn’t do it as much now, I’m assuming, since the kind of people she’s interviewing are major candidates, but she instructs her staff to do it, too.

So what personas would you give?

For me, I’d probably give this blog, and my Facebook page. Ironic as hell, considering that I was a non-believer in Facebook until about a month ago.

You know what I wouldn’t give? My LinkedIn page. I still, to this day, do not see the benefit of it. I understand that HR people might use it to find specific candidates – but I don’t get the point of “recommendations.” “Peter was the best person I ever worked with.” Of course I was! Would you expect me to approve a recommendation that said I sucked? Self-merit doesn’t thrill me – I don’t need to read about how great you are from 15 people who you personally invited to tell me how great you are.

If faced with the same question, (which I believe more and more of us will be as the concept of social networking becomes just another cog in the wheel of the Internet that is our daily lives) what two online personas would you give out?

Other than this blog, Facebook and my Twitter page, I don’t know what else is worth giving out. Facebook combines a good hit of fun with the professionalism – it found a good balance – MySpace is too young, LinkedIn is too old. Facebook is kinda just right.

What about you?