It is usual for employers to google for possible candidates in order to find out more about their personal interests and their past. That is why many are trying to alert the younger generations to be careful about what they post on the net. Reckless comments, visceral reactions can come back to byte you years later because once you have written something it may be impossible to take it back.
On the other hand, just like having no credit history makes it difficult to apply for a loan, it may become harder for those with no net presence to apply for a job. I see it in my job. I prefer to hire people who have a web-site and who participate in open-source projects. That means that if I do not get any search results when googling for someone, I consider that a negative. This may be related to the fact that I work in a high-tech industry, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this trend had already become mainstream in other industries, since online reputation is becoming harder and harder to separate from real world reputation.
This phenomenon could have unintended consequences for several social groups. The first one is women. Since it is common in many countries that women adopt their husband last name and considering that marrying multiple times in a lifetime is becoming more prevalent, large chunks of their online history could easily be lost to those who do not know all the different names a woman may have used. This could have unintended beneficial consequences for those interested in burying old stories but it could also lead to a situation where women could be perceived as having a less “interesting” professional past. There are many solutions to this problem, but my personal favorite is to have women keep their maiden name all their life.
Another group we need to be concerned with is the one living on the wrong side of the digital divide. If less web presence leads to less opportunities, we must make sure that everyone has proper access to the internet and that schools teach the importance of online reputation. This could, by the way, also help improve good judgement in adolescents who tend to say or write things without measuring the consequences.
None of my previous comments should indicate that I am against anonymity on the web. I am not, on the contrary. Without anonymity there is no freedom, but you cannot spend your life writing only anonymous comments. Sometimes you will have to show what you stand for, what you believe in or what you know. That is what will be used to build your image and your reputation. This cannot be achieved anonymously.