OPINION:Everyone can define themselves using social media; it is the most important strategic decision you can make in your career

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN the first dot-com boom and the credit crunch, work in its original incarnation - you did stuff for people and they paid you for it - became very old school. Chris Anderson's new book, Free, discusses this in detail, citing examples - from Ryanair to Monty Python - of people who have made millions from giving stuff away.

The latter went on YouTube to rant about people putting copies of their most famous sketches on the site. They put up high-quality versions of the sketches and asked people to go and buy their stuff afterwards.

The result was astonishing: a huge surge in demand for Python content, from DVDs to books.

The central idea is infectious. In media circles, for example, being someone who writes for money is seen as an absurd affectation, like wearing a monocle. In lieu of actual cash, newspapers and magazines offer a platform from which to shout.

Former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans coined the best definition of news as "something someone doesn't want you to know". But journalism is now a commodity, and the margins on that sort of story have been slashed - it's expensive to make and is now expected to be delivered free of charge to our inbox within minutes.

As a result, newspapers are shape-shifting into viewspapers and on the web, blogs are becoming more sophisticated. The Huffington Post and the Daily Beast can match any newspaper in the world, comment for comment, at a fraction of the cost.

The New York Times let Jason Jones from the satirical US programme the Daily Show in for a poke about their offices. It was the most excruciating/hilarious analysis of the modern newspaper industry yet seen. Talking to one of the editors, Jones threw him a copy of that day's paper and asked the killer question: "Is there anything in there that happened today?"

Journalists like Anderson are their own personal media brands and, according to the human resource industry, we should all be following the lead of the über hacks. "Everyone has the opportunity to define themselves using social media; it is the most important strategic decision you can make in your career," ran one quote.

To this end, I'm launching my own new online personality. I'm calling it "Richard Gillis" as part of a broad overhaul aimed at injecting my online presence with some viral energy.

One problem is the name: since the emergence of the internet, I've been wrestling for my virtual identity with a supplier of customised dermatological solutions based in the southwest of England.

Tap my name into Google and Richard Gillis Cornish Suncreams comes up as the number-one hit (they also registered richardgillis.com years ago). Next up is a bloke in Arkansas who mends photocopiers.

I've toyed with changing my name: Dick Gillis was an option for a while, which I thought made me sound like a hard-boiled American baseball writer, of the type that ruled the back pages in the 1950s. Richie Gillis is a bit Happy Days, and putting in fake initials - RFK Gillis - smacks of trying too hard.

I took advice from digital HR. Rob Grimsey of Harvey Nash (or was it Harvey Nash of Rob Grimsey) suggested: "Web-savvy jobseekers should act now to gain the competitive edge as online networking helps jobseekers stay well connected and get career-informed."

Rob/Harvey said an up-to-date LinkedIn profile was essential. For those not up to speed, LinkedIn is a business networking site - a sort of Facebook for ugly people - and is becoming the new jobs battleground. It claims 40 million members, each one rewriting their personal history and embellishing past achievements. It's free to join and once you're in, you start inviting people to be a contact.

How many contacts you should have is a delicate balancing act. Too few and you're not worth knowing; over 100 and you obviously haven't got a day job. From there, people from every industry sector imaginable are forming groups, which act as micro-media channels, through which they can communicate and, ultimately, sell themselves.

This may sound like just more online noise but there is an industry devoted to "online listening" using new social-networking search tools like Radian6, and sites such as 123people.com, pipl.com and cluuz.com. If we believe the HR hype, we are all now under 24-hour surveillance by potential employers, ex-partners and other assorted weirdos (commissioning editors).

They are each awaiting your every word, as long as it's free.