Being a great resource that it is, the internet has become a standard for communicating with the rest of the world. The internet has facilitated reunion with old friends, publicity for people and businesses, meeting of new people and networking with people from various parts of the world. The internet has also become a resource for people to express themselves to the rest of the world without the fear of being physically assaulted or ridiculed. This has had its advantages and disadvantages. However, uses of the internet can be channeled positively towards exhibiting yourself and your ideas to the world in whatever form you desire to.

The internet has been described in many ways but most important of all the factors involved is the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is the interlink of various kinds of documents that are accessed via the internet which is the network. There are three major ways to establish a personal presence on the internet through the World Wide Web. These include social networking profiles, blogging and creating a personal website.

The most popular method used by various people to create a personal presence on the internet is social networking. Social networks such as Facebook, Hi5 and Friendster give users an opportunity to display information about themselves and customize their profiles. Through these profiles, they can tell the world who they are, have their old friends connect back with them, meet new people and create some kind of exposure for themselves on search engines. Social networks are a good method of personal presence but as the name suggests, they are optimized exclusively for social activities. A lot of people have been able to craft out their social networking profiles to look as professional as possible but the aim remains the same; to socialize with the rest of the world. There are popular global social networking websites such as Facebook (www.facebook.com). However, one social networking site optimized for Nigerians is Naijapals (www.naijapals.com). It has a wide range of resources and is popularly used by Nigerians both at home and in diaspora.

Another method used to create a personal presence on the internet is through blogging. A lot of people write blogs on various topics ranging from fashion to finance. A lot of renown people have blogs which they use to express themselves in different ways. Some executives have been said to have blogs to express a part of them they could not express publicly because of their image. Various other people have kept blogs to exhibit their creative work, keep diaries and write about other personal interests. In the past, people have become popular through blogging, gotten jobs through blogging and gotten good revenue by advertising through blogging. The possibilities of blogging are limitless once you attract the audience. Also, a blog gives you more power over customization and changing things to your own feel. From background colors or pictures to music, youtube videos and many other widgets you'd love to embed on your blog from all parts of the internet. The most popular and user-friendly blogging platform is Google's blogspot (www.blogspot.com). Its the easiest and most user friendly blogging platform and most important of all, its free of charge. All that is needed is to sign up for an account, customize the blog and start writing. There are self-hosted blogs such as Wordpress but the major problem is the fact that you have to get your own web hosting and domain name to operate them. Examples of Nigerian blogs include Bella Naija (http://bellanaija.blogspot.com), Linda Ikeji (http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com), Wana Sambo (http://wanaspinkblog.blogspot.com) and Ariztos Magazine (http://ariztos.blogspot.com) among others.

The final and most tasking method is creating a personal website. This involves developing a website from scratch in order to create an image to the public about you or something you are highly interested in. This method is usually used by politicians, entrepreneurs and professionals who consider themselves walking brands and have to be careful about the impression the public has of them at every given time. In the western world where internet is more readily available, creative individuals, freelancers, students and people in various phases of life develop personal websites to exhibit their portfolio or for their resume simply because of the fact that they have various tools that ease the development of personal websites. Examples of Nigerian personal websites include Remi Babalola (www.remibabalola.com), Pat Utomi (www.patutomi2007.com), Donald Duke (www.donald-duke.com), Erastus Akingbola (www.erastusakingbola.com) and Gbenga Daniel (www.gbengadaniel.com) among others.

We will be discussing about the benefits of a personal presence on the internet in part 2.