Crowdsourcing :: Reputation Management for Digital Natives
Written on October 19, 2007 – 1:09 am | by Paull Young
At Podcamp Boston on October 28 I’m presenting with Christi Eubanks and Mike Denton on Reputation Management for Digital Natives - and we need your help.
There has been a lot of talk about young people potentially harming their reputation online - along with many case studies. Digital Natives will be the first generation to live their lives branded by a Google Tattoo. At the same time, I’m a firm believer that there is so much to gain from actively engaging online that you’d be stupid not to, it’s just a matter of knowing the ground rules.
Of course, the most important quality is respect. And that is what we’re trying to show here. We understand that the three of us are not experts here - but with your assistance we can start a great conversation that we can build with the audience at Podcamp.
What we’d like from you:
Three DO’s and Three DON’T’s for online reputation management.
That’s all. We’ll take all your points to Podcamp Boston, discuss them with the audience and see if they can help guide us to some underlying rules and theory that we can use to help guide our peers. Please share your thoughts! We really value every comment and we’ll feature all of them at Podcamp. Blog it or leave a comment here, anything you’ve got to share is valuable.
To get the ball rolling, I’m going to tag the members of the young PR blogosphere. It would be great if you could all take a moment this week to add 3 Do’s and Don’ts, and in addition tag one person whose opinion you respect to spread the word a little further.
So: Ed, Davies, Chris, Mary, Melanie, Luke, Sarah, Lauren, Kait, Leah, Erin, Steven, Michael, Awais, Amanda, Katy, Parker/Espen, Scott, Chris and of course any one else reading - what are your 3 Do’s and Don’ts for online reputation management for digital natives?
26 Responses to “Crowdsourcing :: Reputation Management for Digital Natives”
By Gerry McCusker on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Good luck with the show Paull et al. Here’s my (rather quick) tuppenceworth:
Do remember that your ‘audience’ is potentially the entire world - so be careful about how you represent yourself.
Do remember to be honest, tho not naieve.
Do understand that it’s a 2-way comms medium; so get ready to engage and converse.
Don’t cheat, flimflam, lie or scam - you will be found out.
Don’t think you’re immune from slander or libel.
Don’t think you know it all; no-one has it all figured out (yet).
By John Cass on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Do’s
Monitor what is being said about you.
Monitor the industry, there’s an opportunity to build authority by writing something thoughtful on current, relevant events.
Spend more time connecting with people than you do on your own site.
Don’t
Don’t cover up, John Mackey comes to mind here.
Think you have set all expectations with readers.
React immediately, take some time to think before you manage a crisis.
By Ed Lee on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
There’s just a couple of do’s and don’t’s:
Do be smart
Don’t do anything you would want to see on the front page (of either google or the FT)
Don’t be a dick
Ed (this last one is a “bit” harder for me!)
By Lauren Vargas on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Do sit awhile and think before you post/tweet
Do read blogs/publications with differing opinions and/or outtside your industry
Do remember we are all human
Don’t ridicule others
Don’t start a ruckus just to get traffic
Don’t copy and paste other posts and call it original
By Parker on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Great idea for a talk, Paull.
I’ll talk to Espen in the next day or so and we’ll try and come up with some good stuff for you!
Cheers
By Melanie Seasons on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Do be personal as well as professional.
Do act your age and experience.
Do remember that anything you say is theoretically on the Internet forever.
Don’t burn any bridges.
Don’t expect people to always agree with you.
Don’t forget that you don’t know everything about the industry.
Btw, not sure if Stephen told you or not, but I’m planning a trip to New York mid-November. We should all meet up for a drink.
By Sarah Wurrey on Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Good topic!
Do strive to be original.
Don’t be afraid to disagree, or be disagreed with.
Do keep your cool.
Don’t get drawn in by trolls and flame wars.
Do let your personality shine through.
Don’t let your “Party Personality” shine through TOO much, if you have one (that is, nix any Facebook photos involving beer bongs, strippers, and other various debauchery).
By Mihaela on Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Do represent your complex self online (is there more to you than partying?)
Do keep your most unintended audience in mind (dad? employer?)
Do THINK about how you want to present yourself (who am I?)
Don’t do what others do just because (but all my friends post party pics!)
Don’t jeopardize your safety & privacy
Don’t damage others’ reputations
By Scott on Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Paul. Alright, I’m late on this and I think pretty much everything has been covered. I’ll just give one big one:
Thick skin: If you’re going to put your opinions out there, be prepared to have people disagree with you. And since the internet isn’t face-to-face, people have a tendency to go a little over the top sometimes when they disagree… So be prepared for that I guess. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.
By Kait on Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
Hey Paull…bumming I can’t be at the PCB! I’m thinking Nashville…I know where you can buy boots!
Do…be brave.
The best way to learn social media is by doing…so get in there.
Do…be pro-actively teachable.
I think I just made up a phrase: Don’t just be willing to learn…actively seek out knowledge…always. There’s always someone willing to help!
Do…decide what you want.
Career-focused? Wanting to take the world by storm one Tweet at a time? Be sure your personal brand reflects that on-line.
Not ready to pull yourself up by your professional bootstraps and be held responsible for your scandalous Facebook pics? Don’t blog about them.
Don’t…be ignorant.
Always remember the meaning of the words composing your current stage-of-life title: Young. Professional. We’ve got a lot to learn.
Don’t…be a tool.
Just because we have an open forum doesn’t make it ok to harm other reps. Learn from others’ mistakes, but think long and hard before you post your feelings. You’ve heard the line about Vegas? Same applies here: What happens on-line…stays on-line…forever.
Don’t…be scared to be original and have fun.
By Jeremy Pepper on Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Go check out my last post on the same thing.
By Lee Hopkins on Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
GRRRRR….. “Sorry, your comment has been rejected because it contains too many links. 1 links were found.”
Okay, rather than link to my post on this, just visit my blog (leehopkins.net) and read the latest post on this very subject from a few hours ago. I will update the post to link back to here - some great 3s in this comment stream!
By Awais Sultan on Oct 26, 2007 | Reply
Ok, I was going to revive my blog and reply to this there, but the layout I wanted to use isn’t compatible with the newest wordpress version (yet) and it’s taking longer to fix all the broken code than I thought…so I’ll just post it here instead. Many of these things have been mentioned by others as well, but oh well..
Three DOs
* Monitor your reputation online. Do regular searches on your name and nicknames. If you have a name like mine, do regular searches on common misspellings as well.
* Be yourself. I agree with a point Michael made in his reply to this post. People want to know who +you+ are. Let some of your personality shine through.
* In a recent post on his blog, Jeremy Pepper said that we shouldn’t forget that our reputation is formed not only through our own content, but also through what +others+ think of us. So, my final “DO” is: Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Now, over to the three DON’Ts
* Don’t be unethical. I believe in the concept of karma, you reap what you sow. Lieing, flaming, cheating - do it and it will all come back to bite you in the ass some day. Not smart, not clever. Just don’t.
* Don’t be afraid to ask questions. We can’t all be experts on everything.
* Don’t be arrogant - There’s a fine line between being confident and being cocky. It is important to stand up for what you believe in, but respect the opinions of others.
By Omar Ha-Redeye on Mar 8, 2008 | Reply
Can I add a legal slant?
DO:
1) Speak your mind, clearly and confidently; the exchange of ideas is what makes this entire endeavour exciting.
2) Choose where you speak. Don’t go to the “Save the Seals” blog (to borrow an example from above) and talk about clubbing them. Deliberate confrontations are unnecessary and lead to unfruitful conflict.
3) Use your real identity wherever possible. It keeps you honest, and achieves the ultimate goal of relationship-building.
DO NOT:
1) Libel individuals, especially with information you cannot independently corroborate. Ad hominem attacks are distasteful, but they can also result in suits.
2) Spread hate speech. This may also be precluded by law under legislation currently under review in several jurisdictions. But beyond that, it’s simply an anti-social approach to dialogue. Temper your critiques by creating a deeper and more nuanced perspective of groups or beliefs you disagree with.
3) Plagiarize. Provide attributions for ideas wherever possible, and at the very least, hyperlink to them. Direct quotes should always be sourced. There’s no point in developing a fraudulent reputation for originality.