The Presence Builder Project - all about managing your reputation when uploading your stuff

Reputation management
This is such a big one I’m giving it an extra heading! It even has it’s own page on Wikipedia which has a great little definition. It says that reputation management is about tracking an entity’s - that would be you and I and anybody else online- actions and other entities’ opinions about those actions.

Of course if you Google this term you will find that most of the buzz is about managing a company’s reputation. So you might feel that this concept doesn’t apply to individuals such as yourself. Wrong. Very wrong.

It is as important for every individual to manage their reputation online. What is interesting is that Wikipedia would call it an action. With other words manage what you are doing online.

So what could you do online that might be bad for your reputation. There’s a whole string of actions you could be taking that you feel are perfectly fun, harmless, innocent and more that might in fact be everything but.

One such example happened quite recently. Two young people had some fun filming each other while entertaining themselves with food items while working at a fast food outlet. The problem was that they posted this on YouTube. Oops.

The company they worked for was not amused. The staff members have been fired and could have some nasty legal actions taken against them.

Now you might think that this is an over the top example and you would never do such a thing. Good idea not to. The two kids involved in this were astounded at the consequences of their action. They never thought this would blow up to be so extreme.

They presumed that because they saw it as harmless fun and in no way a reflection of the reality of what happens in a kitchen at a pizza place everybody else would see it in the same humorous way.

And that is one of the issues here. Actions are seen quite differently by people. We all interpret a situation according to our experiences. One experience could have led us to be concerned about the cleanliness of the kitchens in fast food outlets.

A video where staff members in uniforms are throwing food around is not something that somebody with concerns about hygiene would find amusing. On the contrary it would be viewed as confirming ones suspicions.

As for staying anonymous because the girl only used her first name? I wonder how long it took Dominos to find out who the two staff members were who posted those videos? Minutes!

A great video by Gary Vee on Word of Mouth and how it has changed in the new social media world is worth checking out.

So here’s the process. Decide who you want to be online. Do you want to be seen as the wicked witch of the west? Do you need to be careful because you have a senior management position? Are you a wanna be celebrity and need something shocking to get people’s attention?

Celebrities are great examples to make a point with. Their actions tend to be magnified almost into caricatures because of the intense interest by the media and the public.

Paris Hilton did a great bit of online manipulation. She made sure a particularly steamy little bit of video showing her and then boyfriend would be ‘leaked’ into the online world.

Paris Hilton created a bad girl image online that allowed her to manipulate her exposure and create some solid money making opportunities on TV and in print advertising and product endorsement.

On the other hand, Britney Spears blew it. She offered a panty-less photo shoot op. Sure her fame ratings shot up and her celebrity status as bad little girl was assured for a while.

However a consequence she never anticipated was that the court would deny her custody of her children and her father would be able to obtain control over her fortune.

Online can leak into offline. Quickly.

Be careful how you present yourself, what information you load up on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al. Choose the ones that will support and enhance the image you want to portray - whether online or offline.

Next up: reputation management and how your reputation is affected by whom you align yourself with. You are your friends?

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