Online Reputation.

Reputation.

• What should I do about it?
• Should I build upon it?
• In fact, why even bother caring about your own reputation?

Reputation is one of those requisite aspects of success. Having good reputation is the Holy Grail for most businesses, in fact a lot of businesses are built solely on their reputation alone. In the past, data is transferred by means of writing and word of mouth; Methods in which are prone to errors and obviously, there is a very very very slow transition of information from sender to receiver. Businesses back then really don't have to worry about getting bad rep, because as long as traditional media portray them in a positive way, people will react to them in a positive and pleasing way (i.e. buying their products.)

That was before.

The past is past for a reason and through evolution of some sort, mankind has entered a new realm of intelligence. Gone were the days of newspapers and hearsay and in comes computers along with it came the greatest platform of communication, and I will go as far as to say that this platform is the greatest thing man has ever conceived.

The Internet.


I would ignore all comments that state aspirin as the greatest invention of man. The internet has provided humanity the platform to insult people a continent away and in case you did not get the point, a normal guy like me sitting behind a computer screen can theoretically bring down a multi-national corporation.

The reality is, we lived in a world that is connected and mind you, it has a very fast connection. Bad words about your company will spread like ants and cause even more havoc than a fire eating up your headquarters. Consumers have the ability to give you profit but they also wield the power to demand more and they have the power to destroy.

Case in point:

The Jet Blue Airways Valentines Day Incident.

Valentines Day, 2007. An ice storm rendered Jet Blue's internal communication system useless and a lot of flights were cancelled. A lot of consumer generated complaints were uploaded in the web via blogs and YouTube videos. With the internet doing its job, the said consumer complaints were wired across the world and inevitably a lot of people saw it. It ruined the reputation of Jet Blue Airways, a reputation they have tried to build over the course of seven years. A single event on a single day brought down years of hard work.

If you think about it, a single negative blog entry about your company will sound like a whisper but as time goes by and more people see that negative piece of information that whisper will become a murmur, then it will sound like someone shouting in your ear and finally, it will be a scandal for your company.

Corporations are not the only ones who should be worried about online reputation. Normal people like us have to build our reputation too for people nowadays judge according to what they see in the web. Job hunters should be most vigilant in protecting their online reputation for most employers do background research on their employee - to - be in the internet. So if you are looking for a job, you better delete those drunken, incriminating photos you have on Facebook or do what I do and set your profile to private.

I kept talking and typing about how online reputation can destroy you so a change of wind might be appropriate and I will share some tips on how to pump up your online reputation.

Create an E - Portfolio.

By basic definition, E - Portfolio is a cohesive, powerful, and well-designed collection of electronic documents that demonstrate your skills, education, professional development, and the benefits you offer to a hiring organization.

Basically, an E - Portfolio is where you get the chance to tell companies about what you can do, what you know and what you can offer. It is like a formally written document that blows your own trumpet. In a good way of course. Since it is on the web, companies can find you much faster and you will have more doors of opportunity opened to you. Plus, you will seem more at par with the pace of technology and will not be likened to a caveman.

With all that being said, we should put our best foot forward and present ourselves as people who excel at the things we do. We should protect our online reputation by posting and creating multiple posts that challenge the haters and show them what we are really made of. We should keep in mind that it takes a year to build reputation and a second to lose it, then we will do things differently.

It is better to do nothing but be remembered rather than do everything but be forgotten. - You can quote me on that.

This blog is for Mon Duremdes, DataMin Class.