Joseph Mallozzi Weblog

To manage your public image and online reputation is something that’s overlooked by many managers. Reputation management, but more specifically, your online reputation management should be a top priority. We should all be like politicians in this because they spend a lot of time and money safeguarding their reputations and public image. Like them, all managers should be focusing the bulk of our efforts in pursuing our own positive agendas when it comes to our online reputations.

Why is this so important? A global Nielsen survey which included more than 25,000 internet users say that they trusted the opinions they found on the internet more than that of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. The bottom line being that perspective employers, clients and perhaps even your upper management considering whether or not to give you that promotion, put a lot of weight in what they can find out about you on Google and other search engines. In most countries though, it is illegal to use information like that in deciding whether or not to promote or employ you but the fact is, they all do it and the smart ones wont tell you that they have done a background search on you on the internet. Why give them anything negative to find in the first place?

There are a few simple things we can all do not only to protect your management job but your online reputation too.

1. Nasty Gossip deserves to be buried six feet under.

If you have come across any nasty gossip which will damage your public image or online reputation, the best thing you can do is to bury it. There are two sites that can help you do this. One is http://www.claimed.com and the other is www.naymz.com. They both allow you to consolidate all the good stuff about you on the net and then have that information come up whenever someone types in your name into a search engine. Neither costs you a cent to set up. However, with newspaper articles, it’s obviously impossible to have that surpresed so you just need to be careful what you say to the press should the opportunity ever raise itself.

2. Use Google alerts.

Google is an awesome tool in business as well as in personal matters. If you want to be notified when Google finds something with your name in it, sign up for Google alerts. Their search robots are crawling the net all the time looking for information to index so you may be surprised what it can find.

3. Use common sense and don’t post anything that could harm your online reputation.

Your public image is one of the most valuable assets you have so why damage it by putting up pictures of yourself in a drunken stupor at that party last weekend on social pages like Myspace or facebook? There have been so many people professional and non professionals alike who have been judged if they’re fit for their job or not based on photos on their facebook page. One case here in Australia comes to mind some months ago about a primary school teacher who was also a part time model. He put up images of himself nude and semi nude for whatever reason he had. Off course, students of his found the page, showed their parents and all hell broke loose. Best not to do it in the first place.

Let’s face it, there are so many people out there who want your management role and to get rid of you. Your online reputation and public image should be one of your first priorities. We live in an age where personal information is so easy to get so why put something out there that could harm your career in any way. Stop and think next time you want to post an image of yourself online or make a smart arsed comment about someone or something. It could just come back and bite you on the bum instead.