Have you done a social media audit of yourself lately? Maybe you should.

Do your social media profiles need to be cleaned up? (Image by lusi at stock.xchng)

By social media audit, I mean updating all those profiles you have on various social media sites. I started doing this recently, and was surprised to find how much information I had let become out of date — my job title, what town I lived in, etc. In addition to profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Plaxo, don’t forget your own bio on your blog, if you have one.

Here are five things to do during a social media audit:

1. Update all of your profile information. Have you moved, been promoted, changed employers or had any other changes since you last created that profile? Is there any information that’s out of date that should be deleted? In addition to the usual social networking sites (such as LinkedIn and Twitter), don’t forget to update your online profile in other groups you belong to — professional organizations, alumni associations, etc.

2. Update your profile picture, if you want. You may want to use different pictures on different sites, to highlight different aspects of your personality. Or you may want to use the same picture across all sites for personal branding consistency. It’s up to you, but ask yourself if you need to add or update pictures to any of your social media profiles.

Tip: Keep a profile picture or two in Flickr. That way you have it available to add to any social media profile no matter what computer you are working on (home, work, school or whatever).

3. Get active on sites that you’ve ignored for a while. I’m not suggesting you should be really active on every social media site — there are too many for that. However, if you’ve been neglecting your LinkedIn activity and that’s a part of your plan for personal branding via social media, it’s worth spending some time there. (And making a plan for being there more consistently.)

4. Record all those passwords somewhere. If you’re like me, you have profiles and passwords to lots of different sites. I have a couple of tricks for remembering them all, but too often I have to rely on the “forgot your password” link. Start recording these somewhere (safe). I’m using index cards that are filed alphabetically in a little box I keep on my desk at home. If you’re paranoid about security, you can lock this in a safe. There are many software solutions available for this (Clipperz is very secure, but if you forget your password to the site, you’re screwed).

5. Bookmark all your social media sites in a single folder in your favorites/bookmarks app. I use Google’s Bookmarks tool in the Google Toolbar, so I have access to my favorite web sites anywhere I have an Internet connection. This will give you quicker access to these sites and increase the odds that you keep them up-to-date and active in the future.

Are there other steps you would take to make sure your social media presence is current? Please share your ideas in the comments below.