So you've made the changes to your resume and cover letter, and they're both stellar and fit the job like a glove. But have you Googled yourself lately? What comes up? When I looked up my name I saw my LinkedIn profile, a few articles I wrote in university, and my name showed up in a couple of websites for clubs I was a member of where I tutored other students. My Facebook page didn't come up. Neither did Twitter, or pictures of me getting drunk or whatever else people post on the Internet for the whole world to see these days.
Thing is, if you live in a civilized society, you have an online presence. You can either use it to show your friends how last week you did a keg stand at a frat party, or you can show off your skills and interests in a way that shows a potential employer who you are as a well rounded person. The other alternative - keep that stuff private, but if you choose that alternative, keep in mind sites like Facebook offer products called Master Keys which, upon payment, provide the purchaser with access to all Facebook content, including the keg stand you placed under a high privacy setting. The other thing to remember is if someone posts a picture of you on Facebook and you're tagged, but their privacy setting is low, that picture might even show up on a Google search.
As for how to shape your online image, the tip most recommended is to think, when you're posting something, "would I want my boss to see this?" I don't think that's necessarily how you have to operate, because I feel for most people it's extremely constricting. Especially since careers span many organizations now, and what one organization or boss may be ok with, another may find unacceptable. An alternative is to think about it is "is this an accurate representation of who I am?" For example, if you have never done a keg stand before and have no intention of doing it again, it's a fairly inadequate representation of you. To a certain extent, most organizations do understand that there's a difference between work you and after-work you, but it really depends on each company. If the stuff online is who you are, it will come through at work one way or another, and would indicate if it's a good fit or not from the start.
As a final note (or recap, I suppose) is just to make sure you're consistent throughout - if you have a logo, spread it around, try to use the same colours if you have a blog or something where you can change it around, etc. And above else, to thine self be true :)
Happy hunting.
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