This great infographic was put together by Dan Martell and the super-smart people over at Flowtown, and it really got me thinking this morning; “Online identity reputation management specialist”…how’s that for a job title? The fact is, that if you are concerned about your online identity and what the rest of the world sees when they perform a search for you or your company’s name, you might need to make friends with the title. The infographic was built using the data in a report by Pew Internet released on Wednesday.
“More than half (57%) of adult internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information was available about them online, up from 47% who did so in 2006. Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online.” – Pew Internet’s Reputation Management and Social Media Report < Click to view/download the entire report!
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This topic hits close to home with me personally. Being mindful of my own online reputation has always been a top priority for me. My personal brand has not been all that difficult to monitor and manage, and this due to the fact that I set out to build it in its entirety from scratch.
In my new role as the digital marketing director for a much larger entity, this task has taken on a new shape and meaning. Just yesterday in the board room, when I Googled our company name, I was amused by the reactions from some in the room caught completely unaware of how and what shows up.
So what about it, social media workers and business owners, are you checking up on yourself? What about your competitors? Will you be surprised…can you afford to be?
This is such a relevant topic, and I fear it's one that not many social networkers, or companies building a social presence on the web, pay attention to. I found the Pew Research article extremely interesting. Though the "young" obviously have an edge with this sort of thing, having grown up with the Internet, everyone should jump on the online profile management band wagon.
You can check out my personal take on it at my Examiner.com blog:
Managing the Mommy Brand http://tinyurl.com/35o2lfz
Thank you for stopping in and leaving a comment today! I appreciate you linking to your article…this really is something that both individuals and brands ought to be paying close attention to. I find that it's a daily task, now more than ever with the blinding speed of the "real-time" web. Google alerts have become a best friend to me in this!http://www.google.com/alerts – setting this up to monitor your name is a valuable tool!
Come back soon Jennifer, you are always welcome here!
Great post. Very on target with the younger generation. My daughter along with many of her friends (artists, building online brand awareness) are slowing dropping off Facebook this week (27-34 yr. olds). They were extremely turned off by the recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg. I sat and discussed this with them last night. Quote: "Mark is only 26 years old and he is telling the world how people want to connect. He doesn't know how we want to connect. If he did, he would not have made all the ongoing changes to our privacy settings, interests, activities, etc." In their opinion, Mark came off very arrogant. He's not someone they want to support. Watch for new trends to develop with this age group!
Thanks for your insightful comment today Marie! I do find it interesting to watch a younger crowd…and new businesses move along in this online world we live and do business in. Its one thing to naturally evolve into it…and entirely another to change and reshape the way some of us have been thinking and behaving for many years.
On Facebook…*blech*, who knows how all this will pan out. I still believe in it as a valuable avenue for business, but I do grow weary keeping up with all of the changes and drama.
I continue to be amazed at how many people think they have NO control over their online reputation. It boggles the mind. Yet another reason why "blogging" is essential…
Blogging is by far the best way to govern much of what appears online. Being pro-active and monitoring what is seen online and educating one’s self in the ways that a level of control over this can be exercised is just plain good business as well! Thanks for your comment Todd!