9 Signs You Might Need Help With Your Online Reputation

Before the turn of the century, a world without online connections was adequate. The early days of the Internet were more about information sharing than personal accounts. Today, however, generations are entering a world where such a scenario cannot be imagined, and offline and online lives have become intertwined in such a way that separating them is not an option.

What You Do Online Is Important

There’s one big difference between online and offline reputation: the number of people that can be reached. Anyone with an Internet connection can find you online: classmates,  job recruiters, and even the President if he really wanted to. If your online reputation is not the best, then you might be closing important doors that you didn’t even know were there.

With that in mind, I have prepared a list of 9 signs that indicate you might need help with your online reputation. Check them out and at the end of the article you can either breath a sigh of relief or prepare to take immediate action.

The 9 Signs:

1. Put On Some Goggles

In 2001, 22% of Americans admitted to searching for themselves online. In 2013, this number almost tripled, according to Pew Research Center. While searching for yourself on the Internet was seen as vanity with a touch of creepy in the early days, as time passed by and companies figured out they could learn more about employees and prospects online than just through interviews, people started to realize that maybe embarrassing photos shouldn’t be easily accessible anymore and more relevant information should be made available.

Go ahead, Google yourself and don’t be surprised with a number of results you find. Dig deep and look at different result pages, from first and middle, to last. Do you like what you see? If not, then determine if you can change the information that’s online, either by yourself or by contacting third-party websites.

2. Master Of Your Domain

One way to make your search results more interesting is to have a domain, the address used online to find a website, with your own name. When inserted as a domain, your name is ranked higher, giving you an extra edge. The more control you have over your name, the better.

You don’t have to spend a fortune putting a website up. You can get a domain name at GoDaddy.com and use a pre-made website or use drag-n-drop tools on a platform, like Wix.

3. Finding Waldo

Over the years it’s easy to accumulate profiles and content all over the Internet. Many social media websites fought hard to be at the top of the list, gathering millions of people to share their information. Forums and comments on random websites also increase your digital footprint.

In order to gain a better control over your reputation, find your old social media profiles, and see if you still have any interest in keeping them online. If not, then simply delete the profiles and focus on maintaining the profiles and websites you care about.

4. Me, Myself And I

Pop artist Andy Warhol built a strong persona to display to the public. He was his own brand, his own reputation, and his own man. The general public knew only his persona, and they were fine with it.

The online world gives a lot of room to experiment. When many of your connections are people you don’t interact with often in person, it’s easy to use different tones and perspectives on different websites. However, as it is increasingly easier to connect the dots between different websites, you need to be careful not to confuse a persona with a multiple online personality disorder, having so many voices that in the end none are your own. The best way to do this is by finding a voice and a tone you like and stick with it throughout the myriad of websites you contribute to.

Look at your content. Are you yourself, a persona, or multiple personalities?

Of course, if you still want to experiment you can. Head over to Reddit, an anonymous forum listed among the 20 most popular websites by Alexa. Reddit works hard to keep your information private, going as far as not even requesting an email for sign up – just don’t use your real name as the username.

5. There’s No Such Thing As Bad Press

Do you know how Paris Hilton became famous? It wasn’t by her skills in acting, singing, nor solving the problems of the world. She had a private video of an intimate moment leaked, and so the world discovered who she was.

Unless you are the next Paris Hilton and can count on your filthy rich family’s reputation and power to turn around embarrassing events, there actually IS such a thing as bad press.

What you do online can directly affect your friendships, relationships, and your work. Imagine losing a friend, ending a relationship or being fired from your job because of leaked information about yourself.

If something embarrassing or controversial is on any of your online profiles, then ask yourself, “how much trouble could I get in if my friend/spouse/parents/children/co-workers/recruiters/boss saw this?”

If your answer was anything other than “no trouble at all”, then take it down. Now.

6.  The Troll In The Mirror

Most online forums and social media platforms suffer in the hands of a terrible creature: the troll.

A troll is a person who will start flame wars, post controversial content for the sake of being controversial, reply to posts with embarrassing information, attack complete online strangers, leak videos, and/or tag people in terrible photos… In sum, the online troll is a bully behind a computer screen.

The best way to handle trolls is to ignore them. If you find yourself falling into the trap of joining a heated online discussion or if you are in a tweet battle against some annoying random user, cut it off right now.

The same is true in case you are the own starting such posts and sharing such content. There’s a reason why people don’t like school bullies, and there are many other reasons why people don’t like trolls.

7. What Day Is Today?

The online world lives in the now. Sure you can find old information, but social media lives in the moment. In 2015, statistics pointed that the average lifespan of a tweet was about 18 minutes, however, with tweets being published by the second, the real lifespan is a few seconds before the tweet gets buried among millions of others.

Now, look at your online profiles. How much time has passed since you last updated your information or shared a relevant post? You don’t have to be like Twitter and live by the second, but at least you should be updated to the current month or week.

8. The Blob

For years people have been struggling with separating work life from personal life.

Unfortunately, when potential and current employees look for your information online, they aren’t just interested in the professional you. They want to know everything they can, even if it’s not directly related to the position within the company you work for.

For this reason, take a look at your profiles from personal and professional eyes. If one negatively affects the other, you should consider changing the content or privacy settings. In case you choose the privacy route, remember to keep your boss and co-workers out of your friends’ lists.

9. We’ll Be In Touch, But Not Really

I cannot stress enough how much your online information can affect your offline life, especially when it comes to your job.

When you go to a job interview, most likely you won’t hear if you got the position on the spot. Instead, companies take their time to analyze candidates, interview additional people and, of course, do some extra digging.

In case you went to an interview, though you nailed it and didn’t get the job, ask yourself if there was anything online that could have turned the odds against you. Many people have fallen victim of self-sabotage over the years and many are on their way to doing so. But wait! Don’t panic! You can take action to prevent the same thing from happening in the future, you just need to act now and change whatever it is you have to change.

Conclusion

Building and maintaining a good reputation is a daily struggle, but if you take the proper steps, you won’t have to worry about your online presence negatively influencing your life. Each and every single piece of information you put on the Internet should be treated as the most important information about yourself.

If you choose to have an online presence, then your online reputation is here to stay. What’s worse – or better, depending on how you look at it –, your reputation can be found by millions of people. For this reason, you should always keep a lookout for what you share online, be it in your own website, online forums, or social media platforms.

Nothing that is posted online is ever deleted for good, thanks to many open and private information databases, so before you post anything, ask yourself the question, “Do I want people to remember me for this?”

Written by: Jaci Coningham