If you have–do you know what is coming up in the top results? Hopefully it’s not anything that can potentially damage your online reputation. If at least a few of the top hits are links that belong to you, then good for you. You have your online reputation under control. But if there are some questionable links that pop up (even if they don’t belong to you), you now need to work overtime to get those links bumped down to the third or fourth page. But how do you even begin this process?
Forbes.com breaks down how to protect your online reputation into five simple steps. Amanda Berlin mentions that signing up for social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will help to boost your online reputation because those sites tend to rank highly in search engine results. Next, you don’t have to google yourself constantly–Google will do it for you. You can set up Google Alerts to keep track of where your name comes up in searches–and have them sent to your e-mail daily, weekly, or as often as Google finds them.
You can also make a Google Profile, which lets you choose certain links that you would like to be associated with your name (this will also allow your name to rank higher in google searches). Another good thing to do is create your own domain name and make everything on that page is something that promotes your online reputation. As for your Facebook page–don’t put anything up there that you wouldn’t want your parents (or future employers) to see.
Bob Sullivan, the blogger behind MSNBC’s The Red Tape Chronicles, gives his two cents on Facebook privacy:
“Heaven forbid you decide to run for Congress 20 years from now… I know many of you believe that you have nothing to hide, and the idea that your children might some day see your Facebook pagedoesn’t (currently) bother you at all. But here’s the problem with any privacy-related choice: it’s usually impossible to assess tomorrow’s consequences today. Or, to be blunt, you just never know what might come back and bite you in the butt.”
Taylor Buley’s article, “When Social Media Bites,” shows us two eye-opening statistics from a CareerBuilder.com survey–45% of employers use social media to research job candidates, and 35% of them found reasons not to hire someone based on something they discovered on their online profiles. That being said, if you’re willing to put risqué content about yourself for nearly all to see on the web (personally, I’m not), at least make yourself aware of how to use Facebook’s privacy settings to your advantage, or people besides you and friends will end up stumbling across it, and it can hurt you in the future. Also, take caution with who you allow to be your friend–or you could end up like this guy.
Media Editing 
These are some really good tips. We all know that Facebook can get us into trouble with employers, but not everyone knows the steps to take to make sure nothing pops up. Personally, I wish I could just delete my facebook account, but I get so many notices through it that I would feel out of the loop without one.
I also like the idea of Google alerting me about links that appear with my name. I remember googling myself in highschool, and I came up with a bunch of porn sites. Apparently there’s a model with my same name out there. Not too promising for future employers who haven’t met me in person yet.
Luckily, when I google myself, my Twitter, LinkedIn, and some random movie rating site I can’t remember joining when I was 13 are the only things related to me that pop up. Guess my name just isn’t common enough.
I think as long as you make sure your name is out on the internet (in a good way) then employers should be able to distinguish between you and the “other Sarah Chestnut.”
So I just googled myself, and the only link about me on the first page is my twitter account, which is seven links down. There are several models (one for the weather channel?), and Facebook account from France, and unfortunately there is already a Sarah Chestnut on LinkedIn. She’s a PR student from Illinois graduating the same year as me. Sweet. Same name. Journalism major. Same graduation. State beginning with an “I” in the midwest. I’ve got my work cut out for me.
I’ve got my work cut out for me too Sarah. Someone please explain to me how I am supposed to out-Google a famous skier and Miss Georgia? I’m kind of thinking that is going to be next to impossible.
So then I typed in my full name hoping for better results. I ended up being the first link, which is pretty sweet if I do say so myself. The link was to my Facebook page. But then I found out anyone can look at any part of my page they want. Looks like I will be fixing the privacy settings shortly. I guess it’s kind of cool that I was the first link, but I don’t know if I love giving out my full name. What do you guys think? I don’t know if I am just paranoid, but does that seem all that safe to do?
This is really interesting–I didn’t most of those things. It amazes me how many capabilities Google has. It is never ending!
The fugitive link is hilarious. I also read an article recently about how a burglar checked his facebook… during a burglary. That would have been fine, except for the fact that he left his facebook account open on the family computer, and didn’t steal the computer.
(http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/525232.html)
Just goes to show how social media can get you into trouble!
Loved the burglar link! (which is either as good as or better than Maxi Sopo’s story… it’s incredible how stupid people can be with social media at the weirdest times–if I were robbing a house, I don’t think I’d stop to check my facebook, and if I did, I’d at least get rid of the evidence.)
I cannot believe some of the examples in that article. Complaining about your new job before your first day even starts, I mean come on, what are these people thinking. Someone needs to be lecturing adults about the risks of posting online content that they might not want people to find.
Ha! Actually, I have Googled myself lately. As strange as it is, it brought back lots of memories from high school. These aren’t necessarily bad things, but I’d like a few things that are a little more recent to pop up for potential employers. I’d never heard of Google Profile before. This is a very helpful blog–thanks!
I completely agree with you, Lindsay. These are things people should know not to do by now. It’s crazy (and sad) how many times you hear about people getting in trouble over this stuff.
I did Google myself – using only my first name, of course, to not look like a cheater. And yeah! I rank pretty high up (first page).
I agree that people should know how to use Facebook privacy setting to their advantage. I personally love the fact that Facebook is quite customizable.
One of the things I don’t understand is why Twitter and Facebook accounts come up before my actual website. It makes me a little upset. Are they more important?
it took me 4 months, but finally, when you google search “autumn rupkey” my site is the number one hit. then of course facebook, twitter, linkdin, then my google profile. it’s almost worth it to sign up for all the social media, just to control what pops up on google.
Everyone should read Holly’s link on how to use Facebook’s privacy settings to your advantage. Unfortunately, my kids have figured this out and are locking me out of things they don’t want me to see. Sigh. They’re always one step ahead.
Haha, have you ever tried googling a generic name like Matthew H. Smith, or even Matthew Harrison Smith? It’s impossible! Boo! On the other hand, if you put in mattyfactory into google, I’m like the third or fourth hit on there–right after the Matte Factory, LOL. I guess you can’t win them all.
But there are certainly some really great tips on here, lots of good advice. I’ll have to be competing with all those other Matthews and Smiths, darn it!
I really like that Google Profile idea, though! That’s pretty cool stuff.
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