Online Reputation Management: Putting Your Best [Cyber] Foot Forward

According to recent media reports, the average American spends about 160 hours online each year. For many working professionals, this number skyrockets into the thousands of hours. A Pew Internet and American Life Project survey conducted in early 2007 reports that nearly half of all internet users have searched for information about themselves while online, more than doubling the figure reported just five years ago.

From these statistics, one might conjecture that as more people spend more time online – with many of them participating in social networks and other forms of self-authored and/or job-related content – they have also become more concerned over the information that remains connected to their online identity. But quite to the contrary! Digging a little deeper in the survey, one learns that just 3% of the “vanity searchers” make a regular habit of it: 1 in 5 of them say they “google” their name just “once in a while;” and nearly three-quarters say they have checked up on their digital footprints only “once or twice.” On the other hand, the Pew Project reports that more than half of all adult internet users have used a search engine to find information about other people in their lives. In addition, employers and others who may influence hiring decisions have started using the web as part of their profiling processes.

Have you checked your online identity lately? Were you surprised by what you did or did not find out about yourself? Are you pleased with the impression your digital footprint might make on others? What can you do about it? This talk will cover the following topics:

• historical context of identity and reputation
• impact of the digital age and “generations” on the concepts of identity and reputation
• active versus passive digital footprints
• how to effectively establish an online reputation with which you are comfortable
• mitigation of the “multiple you” problem
• how to monitor your online reputation, personally or via third-party services
• how to “clean up” your online reputation as needed

Participants will learn a methodology grounded in public domain resources to accomplish the above. Pointers will be given to a variety of fee-for-service providers for those who lack the needed time or skills, or who simply prefer to delegate the work; however the instructor will not endorse or cover any of these offerings in detail. Subject to the availability and functionality of a wireless connection in the tutorial venue, instruction will include live demonstrations; but as a fallback, video captures will be narrated for relevant segments.

In additional, emergent issues – such as technology best practices, corporate policies and procedures, and legal concerns – will be discussed in the context of online reputation in the information age. Beyond just reporting the status quo, this portion of the tutorial will invite students to air and/or debate their own ideas on contentious topics – such as the tension between privacy and free speech online. Given the broad cross-section of perspectives one can anticipate at an international conference, this is sure to prove enlightening!