Comments on: Heading Out on Your Own — Day 9: Managing Your Online Reputation

By: David

David — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:17:50 +0000

As a 20 year old, this is something that is slowly being taught about in high school and in college it is reinforced even more due to the fact that with college the focus is on getting a career. Thankfully I’ve always been careful with my privacy settings and what I say and post. I admit I have posted somethings I don’t want to mention because of how stupid/embarrassing they are. Once I realized it (about 5-10 min after) I deleted it. Granted it was on Facebook so they may not be 100% gone due to their changing privacy settings. I’ve even Googled myself using many restrictions (David Cohen is a very common name). Furthermore I don’t have to worry about the classical (or is the internet old enough for those kinds of photos to be considered classical?) ‘look at me and how drunk I am’ due to a medical condition. I will share this article with my friends however. Thanks for writing this article because it addresses something not thought of as important.

By: Tyler G.

Tyler G. — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:03:46 +0000

These are great tips. My name is pretty unique, so any Google search for my name instantly brings me up.

I usually don’t worry about making things public or private. If I have something that only a few people should see, I just don’t post it on the internet, where something is bound to be leaked.

Another tip: Be sure to do these things for ALL of your accounts, not just your main ones. I use Facebook for just about everything, but the Google search brought up my Twitter profile more than anything else.

By: MaryAnn

MaryAnn — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:42:59 +0000

It’s amazing the amount of information, personal information, of ours that gets littered across the internet. Thanks for some good tips on how to deal with some of it.

By: Chad Ian Lieberman

Chad Ian Lieberman — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:25:18 +0000

Reputation management does work. Although negative comments are pushed off the first page and still may be found on the second or third page. When I have a new client, before I charge them anything I will review the situation. I once had someone inquire about my services and the negative link they wanted to remove was from a major newspapers website. I told them it was most likely not going to be realistic to remove it from the first page and would not take the clients money.

A lot of times the negative reviews come from sites that allow people to give negative reviews to businesses with no merit. I’m not going to mention them by name, but there are tons of them. When I review a individuals or companies situation if I know it can be pushed off the first page we will proceed.

There is a trust factor when hiring a reputation management company. For example, when I’m hired I will need to create at least one or more email accounts for the client and create some new accounts on the net for the purpose of creating positive links in the place of the negative one. Any company that doesn’t ask for this, I would be suspect of. You have to create new accounts for the client to remove bad links.

Another strategy that has to be discussed before any work is done, is what kind of links would be acceptable to use to replace the bad links. In short, reputation management does work and is extremely valuable because potential customers will run if they see negative reviews, regardless if they are truthful or not.

By: csthom

csthom — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:37:59 +0000

I’m always happy to see services add 2-step verification. As much as I know that using a random password would be more secure, I just don’t care for the idea that I have all of my passwords written down somewhere.

By: marilyn

marilyn — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 21:13:04 +0000

Great advice, for everyone. Thanks for the timely reminders!

By: The Watcher

The Watcher — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:54:00 +0000

When everything fails, you have to get the pro’s in. Especially when the info about you is false, an interview coming up or your business suffers. I used the guys from Reputation Planet. Not cheap, mind – but they got all of the stuff I didn’t want cleared up. Don’t think I would have my job today…

By: Jacques

Jacques — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:41:21 +0000

Sounds great! I was just a little worried over the fact that rap is seen as something offensive sometimes. But unless I decide to actually be particularly controversial in a bad way, I wouldn’t think it would be a problem, like you said. Just making sure. I will ask my professors, though, to see what they think. Thanks for the response! I loved Manvotionals, by the way, I go back and read paragraphs I really liked from time to time. I’ll definitely be passing it to my child if I ever have one (boy or girl). :)

By: Brett McKay

Brett McKay — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:38:23 +0000

@Jacques-

I haven’t sat in on any hiring decisions for physics professors, so I don’t know for sure and what that professional culture is like, but in general, I have found that potential employers really like it when you have outside interests, especially when they’re a little different than the average guy. It makes you memorable and seem well-rounded, and gives them a talking point, “We have a physics professor here that also raps about philosophy!” So I wouldn’t think it would be a problem. But I would pose the question to one of your physics professors, since he’s probably more tuned into the professional culture.

By: Jacques

Jacques — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 05:21:23 +0000

Brett, I have a question. I’m currently a student in physics, I plan on becoming a professor and working with companies (possibly making my own) in the future. I also really like making music. I don’t really stick to one genre of music and one of the genres I like making music of is rap/hip-hop. My lyrical content is very philosophical (as in, I rap/sing about things similar to what even AOM talks about). I don’t use much profanity, unless I think it’s necessary. Do you think I can still make some music in this genre without it affecting my future work? Thanks!