I think it's a great idea to know your online identity. I already use google alerts for library news but I think it' kind of vain to have your name as an alert you want to receive. So I probably won't put a google alert out on my name unless I'm doing something really important, it also doesn't help that there are a bunch of people named Rebecca Boyer.
Google was probably the worst search engine when I looked up my name the only thing it found on the first page was my graduation from UNO. When I used images the first picture it had was a tombstone.
Bing and Yahoo were pretty much about the same, they were both better then google. I actually found pictures that lead to information about me. Also found my name in results other then when I graduated.
I have a facebook account profile and it conveys the info I need it to. Also it helps to set your account settings to friends if you really don't want people to see your account. I'm not really worried about it because when I search for my name I'm not even on any of the first 3 pages when you do a name search.
Overall, as long as you are reasonably smart about what you are doing and about privacy it shouldn't be a problem to keep your identity online how you want it to look.
