You’re Not So Vain!

“Ego surfing” is the somewhat misleading term for searching your own name or the name of your organization online. In the digital age, searching your name on Google and Bing is an essential defensive practice. And it goes well beyond propping up an individual’s ego. While you personally may not place much importance on the results associated with your name online, rest assured that the rest of the world does. Ego surfing today isn’t an exercise in vanity. It’s an exercise in vigilance.

In fact, ego surfing is frequently quite humbling for more than half of those who take the time to search their names online and find themselves less than satisfied with the returns they see about themselves on the almighty SERP, the Search Engine Result Pages. This can happen when a forgotten “blast from the past” resurfaces. Even worse are the tangled results which can pop up with an ill-defined web presence. Imagine the repercussions of political candidate Jack Williams being confused with this Jack Williams.

Make Sure Your Name is Associated With the Real You

In order to get a thorough look at all of the data associated with your name in the search engines, you’ll need to search beyond “mentions” of your name. If you’ve got a common name, such as Jack Williams in our example above, you’ll need to add some modifiers such as city or town, and state, middle name, profession, or previous places of employment. Check the results under the “all”, “news”, and “images” categories.

In Jack’s case, he would need to distinguish himself from the author, athlete, disc jockey, professor, and other politicians and numerous citizens with his very common moniker. Not to mention the Jack Williams accused of robbery and burglary. Those with common names need to put extra effort into defining themselves as individuals online. But every name produces multiple results, and none are immune from mistaken identity errors.

On the internet, there is no such thing as yesterday’s news. And ego surfing is essential for remaining aware of everything associated with your name online. We live and work in the age of screenshots, shares, retweets, and File-Save As. And anyone with a smartphone can post anything about you at any time.

The mighty search engine algorithms are great for locating names in their massive databases. But when it comes to distinguishing between similar personas online they can often generate confusion which is potentially damaging to your personal online reputation. Ego surfing can uncover misassociations to others online which need immediate correction. The best discerning authority concerning you is you yourself.

You can’t rely on the due diligence of others to distinguish errors in the initial Google search. It’s true that interested parties such as employers and lending institutions will usually perform a more intensive background check later. But a negative online reputation can screen you out of that process long before that happens.

Why No Web Presence is Worst of All

There’s also the possible scenario that a searched name produces no results at all for those who cherish their online privacy and have intentionally avoided establishing a web presence. We’ll talk more about how having no online personal reputation at all can be just as damaging as a negative reputation further on in this post.

Maintaining a positive personal online reputation is now paramount in our hyper communicating world. 97% of consumers rely on internet searches for business referrals and professional background information. And an astounding 85% believe in the credibility of what they read online. Ego surfing isn’t about vanity at all. It’s a necessary practice for anyone who has established a web presence via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.

Ego Surfing is Defensive Googling

Searching your own name is the best first defense for personal reputation management in order to monitor those critical top listings in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) which are all about you. In order to address a problem, you’ll first need to be aware that a problem exists. Ego surfing is your online reputation radar.

When someone mentions your name online, tags you in a photo, or retaliates because you’ve unknowingly stepped on their toes in some way, you need to know about it. The practice of ego surfing is even more essential when we find ourselves at those turning points in life. Buying a new house, leasing an apartment, or making a career move all elicit an online search. All of these turning points bring an increased level of online scrutiny and burying your head in the sand while hoping for the best is not an option.

The term “defensive Googling” is a much more apt description of this essential reputation management practice. And anyone seeking employment, building a professional career, or even beginning new social relationships will benefit. It’s best to make it part of your regular reputation management routine. Defensive googling is a must before entering any scenario in which your online reputation will be the subject of scrutiny. That includes making a career move, buying a house, applying for loans, or launching a startup.

Googling the name of a new applicant is now the norm. Recruiters, employers, prospective clients, college admissions administrators, and even that potential match with your significant other all hop online to learn about you first. Add to the list realtors, landlords, investors, and loan officers, and it becomes obvious that maintaining an accurate online reputation is important for anyone who isn’t living off the grid. For the rest of us in the mainstream of today’s digital society, online reputation management is a skill which is arguably more vital than writing an effective resume.

93% of Employers Are Searching Your Name

Susan P. Joyce is a career coach and job search expert. Her informative article for Forbes titled To Be Hired You First Must Be Found provides a vital perspective on establishing a positive web presence for career opportunities. Joyce leaves no doubt about the importance of online visibility and the questions it can raise in the minds of recruiters and employers as they search and screen for qualified talent when web presence is lacking.

As she reported, by 2014, 93% of recruiters used or plan to use social media for initial job candidate evaluations. That number was up from 80% in 2010, and if the trend continues it is safe to assume that Googling all candidates will be a standard business practice for nearly 100% of employers. Joyce refers to an individual’s web presence as the “online footprint.”

Why Your Online Footprint Matters

That online footprint can be the first step to a rewarding new job. Or, it can be the muddy impression that rules you out as a good fit. The offhand comment or bawdy image of you on social media might have been funny to your Facebook friends. But it may be totally inappropriate for your future boss to view when it pops up in the initial Google search. Social media is a common source for negative search results. And the wisest candidates are those who ego surf and use defensive Googling to clean up those old muddy footprints before they make a career move. They know any major life change is sure to place them under intensive scrutiny.

Old arrest records, mugshots, and court cases can all appear in the massive search engine databases and affect your personal brand. When the source of negativity associated with your name is a third-party person or organization beyond your control Reputation Sciences has the proprietary digital tools you need to be prepared for that scrutiny by placing the reins of the search engine rankings in your hands.

As bad as negative search results are, no online footprint at all might be even worse. Online communication skills are frequently an indicator that a candidate is knowledgeable and able to thrive in the digital age. If your name produces no results at all in the initial search, searchers will raise doubts about your ability to use the basic business tool: the internet. Or, the screener may suspect that you’re hiding your “digital dirt” by using an alias.

As job search expert Susan Joyce points out: If you’re not ego surfing regularly, all of these factors affecting your career opportunities will be invisible to you.  

Securing Your Online Reputation

Writer Kim Komando offers some basic ego surfing tips in her 2015 article for USA Today, Why You Should Google Yourself Now. One of the basic tools is the Google Alerts feature which will keep you up to speed when your name is mentioned on the internet with a timely email.

The internet never sleeps. And the internet never forgets. The alerts are helpful in the ongoing process of defensive Googling. Komando also highlights just how much personal information is available on your Google account. A review of your Google security and privacy settings is in order.

Going beyond the original name search, Komando also wisely advises readers to search:

• current and former email addresses;
• old social media account usernames; and
• phone numbers.

This gives you the most comprehensive picture of just what’s out there.

Claiming Your Name Online

If you haven’t established a positive web presence, there are some ways to establish and enhance your personal online reputation. One of the best first steps is to establish your online identity with a detailed profile on LinkedIn. It’s one of the most reliable methods to ensure that people can find you online.

The site is respected by the Google algorithms and always ranks highly in the SERP after an initial name search. You can add modifiers such as middle name or initial. And you can include specific details such as profession and location that differentiate you from others with similar names. You can also publish a polished resume and influential posts to spotlight the positive aspects of your life. That may include working with charities or nonprofit organizations. Knowledgeable articles highlighting your communication skills are another way to take control of the online conversation about you.

LinkedIn offers a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) advantage which shouldn’t be dismissed. When your LinkedIn profile appears prominently in search results, you can steer interested parties to your blog or website. You can even highlight prominent mentions in online articles or positive reviews by others.

Getting Your Head Out of the Sand to Protect Your Online Reputation

Reliance on the search engines is a two-edged sword. An established presence enables you to show up first online. And it opens the doors to a new career, as well as financial, and social opportunities. However, ignoring the effects of your online reputation can be disastrous. All of us in the digital age need to be proactive in the management of our personal reputations online. As reliance on the almighty search engines increases, this is one problem that certainly won’t go away by ignoring it.

If you’ve been repeatedly passed over for jobs, struggled to get past the application process with leasing agreements, or continuously rejected by lending institutions, it’s time to do some serious ego surfing. It’s your chance to survey the landscape of your online footprints. If your name has been associated with a mugshot of the felon who shares your name and city, you need to know about it.

Time Spent Ego Surfing is Time Well Invested

In many cases, once you are aware of a problem you have the means to take action and correct it yourself. You can clean up your social media posts and delete blogs and images which are no longer appropriate. You can increase your web presence if it’s been lacking and use ego surfing to monitor your progress.

These are good first steps to take in your personal reputation management. Just bear in mind that you don’t always have access to the delete button when the government databases or other third-parties allow access to personal information. If a particular comment or inappropriate image associated with your name has gone viral it will be quite a chore to contact each website administrator to have it removed. And even then their compliance with your wishes may not happen. Now it’s time to go beyond the basic fundamentals of personal reputation management and call in the big guns. The advanced technology at Reputation Sciences is here for you.

About Reputation Sciences

The age of digital information is an age of science. With the ever-increasing reliance on information technology that science can easily work against you if you aren’t vigilant about maintaining the valuable personal brand which is your online reputation. When science is the problem, better science is the cure.

At Reputation Sciences we have the proven proprietary digital tools that let you take control of the online conversation about you, your business, or your corporation. When you’re ready to take charge of your online reputation don’t hesitate to contact us.

The post Ego Surfing: Searching Your Name for Online Reputation Management Purposes appeared first on Reputation Sciences.

Today’s Internet: Everything Online is Permanent

In today’s digital age, it’s easy to forget that every comment, like, emoji, tweet, blog, and forum post we attach our names to is written on an unerasable whiteboard with indelible ink. Everything online is permanent. Despite assurances from the popular social media sites that we can delete at any time, the internet never forgets.

That frat party picture that everyone found so hilarious 15 years ago can disappear from specific sites. But the digital trail it blazed lingers on the internet permanently. Though you may not be able to see it, it’s out there and ready to be dug up, and what was funny for the carefree frat boy of yesteryear could be disastrous to the high profile executive he is today.

Everything Online is Permanent

There is no handy “undo” button to call back these digital bits of free-floating speech should we find ourselves in the regrettable state of “posting remorse.” In a blog post for the Princeton University Press Angelica Ana highlights the award-winning 2010 book Delete by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger which looks at the unprecedented phenomenon of “perfect remembering.”

Mayer-Schönberger’s book analyzes the unforeseen consequences in the digital age. She observes:

“Humiliating content on Facebook is enshrined in cyberspace for future employers to see.”

Add to the indelible whiteboard a dearth of outdated information, statements that have been taken out of context, compromising photos and videos, and the ultimate free-speech nature of the internet which allows anyone in the world to chime in at any time with any comment, screenshot, or file they choose.

Now consider that the indelibly inked whiteboard (with your name inscribed in bold title font at the top) is supported by technology that makes all of this data available with the click of a mouse. Today’s internet is more user-friendly than ever. And it doesn’t take an IT expert to take advantage of inexpensive cloud storage, increasingly powerful software as a service (SaaS), and easy global access. As the internet goes mobile, the worldwide whiteboard is wide open for posts from anyone with a smartphone.

In Delete, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger proposes that all information should have an expiration date. A brilliant solution, but not one which is likely to function retroactively, if it ever does happen. The book has been out since 2010. But more than 8 years later the internet is still the Wild West of unregulated, undeletable information with no expiration date.

What Happens When Professional Athletes Tweet Before They Think

Below we’ll take a look at the consequences of some prominent blunders committed by prominent athletes when they chose to venture out into the unpredictable social media world beyond the white lines. Then we’ll look at some of the solutions you can use to take charge of your web presence and control the conversation concerning your online reputation in the digital age that never forgets.

It’s a case of fighting science with science. And at Reputation Sciences, we have the proprietary digital solutions to offer control of the undeletable whiteboard of the internet. But for now, consider these cases of prominent individuals who should have thought twice before hitting the “send” button.

10-12 Million NFL Draft Dollars Up in Smoke

In 2016 Ole Miss football player Laremy Tunsil had high hopes for himself in the NFL draft for that year. The top-ranked tackle was expected to begin an illustrious NFL career from the number 1, 2, or 3 spots. Unfortunately, a picture of the talented prospect taking a bong hit with a gasmask surfaced on his Instagram account on draft day. Even though the bong picture had been shot two years prior at a fraternity house, it surfaced at just the wrong time for Tunsil.

The notorious bong picture led to text messages pirated from the young hopeful’s iCloud account. The messages discussed questionable money requests between Tunsil and the athletic director at the University of Mississippi. The disastrous timing of the two hacks is now an infamous case of malicious social media sabotage. It likely came from an embittered former “business advisor.” But that didn’t stop Tunsil from plummeting from the top 3 draft prospects at the time. The Miami Dolphins eventually picked up the left tackle at the #13 spot. That’s an estimated loss of 10 to 12 million dollars for Tunsil.

Your Past Can Always Come Back to Haunt You

Laremy Tunsil’s social media catastrophe demonstrates not only the potential for severe financial loss, but it’s an excellent example of the lingering effect of social media in the digital age. ESPN picked up screenshots of the incriminating text messages and they went viral. To this day, in 2018, Tunsil’s tarnished reputation remains because of that single bong picture. The incident is locked in for posterity, mentioned in his bio at Wikipedia, with the “draft day” fiasco appearing prominently in internet searches.

So, how was Laremy Tunsil hacked? The media circus continues to this day, involving NCAA investigators and the FBI. However, those involved are remaining tight-lipped about the incident. Apparently, the shadowy “business advisor” provided Tunsil with a new Apple device. And the naive youngster accepted an offer to have his account information transferred by that unscrupulous individual during the setup process. That’s when he broke the cardinal rule of the internet. He gave away his iCloud account password. That opened the gate to the barrage of social media attacks and the media circus which still haunts him today.

Olympic Swimmer’s Tweet Sinks Jaguar Endorsement

For Stephanie Rice, three Olympic gold medals for swimming and the Medal of the Order of Australia were no insurance. The blunt 17-character tweet cost her an endorsement and the late-model $100,000-plus Jaguar which was one of the luxurious perks of her sponsorship by Jaguar Australia.

In a burst of patriotic enthusiasm, then 22-year old Rice posted a short but ribald comment supporting her nation’s rugby victory when Australia’s Wallabies defeated South Africa’s Springboks. Rice tweeted “Suck on that f—gots” which she later admitted was done without discretion in “the excitement of the moment”, according to this report at Reuters. The 3-time gold medal winner has over 100 thousand followers on Twitter alone, so the retweets went viral and caught the attention of the ever-vigilant sports media. As they say, the rest is history.

The chagrined swimmer quickly apologized and removed the comment, but as we’ve already learned that couldn’t prevent an exponential storm of retweets heard around the world. This is one of the hazards for athletes and other prominent personalities on Twitter with huge numbers of followers.

The damage was beyond repair, despite the apologetic blog post from Rice. The Jaguar Australia general manager Kevin Goult made a public statement in a press release saying:

“Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010.”

Stephanie Rice’s case underlines the fact that there is no such thing as yesterday’s news. The Reuter’s report we found as the source for this section carries the dateline SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 / 4:36 AM / 8 YEARS AGO.

Online Reputation Management: What Stephanie Rice Got Right

As an Olympic competitor, Stephanie Rice spends her career overcoming obstacles. She didn’t allow the fallout from the indiscreet tweet to rule the online conversation for long. While the internet never forgets, there are effective countermeasures you can take to prioritize what appears online. You can work to place the positive boldly at the top and suppress the negative to the bottom fine print.

When assessing Stephanie Rice’s web presence today it’s obvious that the former Olympian invested in her online reputation management strategy. A search for “Stephanie Rice Swimmer” (to distinguish her from the country singer of the same name) brings up an impressive list highlighting the positive aspects of her web presence. Stephanie has done an excellent job of “staking out her internet turf.”

Today she’s the swimmer-turned-glamour-girl, rather than the swimmer who makes homophobic tweets.

The top 3 search results include her name as a claimed domain for the website which she controls, her Instagram photos and videos, and positive YouTube video links. The infamous 8-year old tweet has a new home at the back of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It ranks at about 20th overall. But eight years later, it is still there for anyone who wants to dredge it to the surface again.

How to End Your NCAA Career in 280 Characters or Less

The social media worlds of Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can be a two-edged sword. Unfortunately, too many young athletes underestimate the lasting impact of their posts. On the one hand, 27% of college admissions officers have Googled applicants as part of the acceptance process. And a positive social media “footprint” can provide a competitive advantage. On the other hand, indiscriminate posts by carefree, innocently short-sighted high school student-athletes can nip NCAA careers in the bud, and the scholarships that come with it.

With social media “fails” becoming so prevalent among athletes at all levels, colleges are reacting with increased vigilance to reduce their chances of “press liability.” Administrators are now so sensitive to the issue that the high-school prospect who merely posts to Twitter 16 times a day may be seen as a loose cannon to be avoided because the frequency of tweets is considered “excessive,” without even considering the content of the tweets. That’s exactly what happened to a young quarterback up for a Division 1 scholarship in North Carolina, according to the article “Don’t Let One Bad Tweet Ruin an Athlete’s Future.“

Be Careful What You Tweet

High school athletes with a muddy social media trail of F-bombs, cyber-bullying, and hot-button topics can tweet themselves out of consideration. As one Rochester, NY coach wisely tweeted to his team “Never let a 280 character tweet cost you a $140,000 scholarship!”

For young athletes and students, and their concerned parents, the message is clear. You’re never too young to take personal online reputation management seriously. Concentrate your efforts on building a positive personal brand. Then you can gain an advantage in the college admissions process and the competitive world of sports scholarships, as well.

Reputation Sciences: Make ORM the Norm

ORM is the advanced digital science of Online Reputation Management. And Reputation Sciences provides the essential tools you need to control the conversation visible to the ever-expanding online world. The internet and social media are here to stay; indelible, undeletable, and compiling everything you’ve ever done online into the ultimately transparent permanent public record. Everything online is permanent. Smartphones abound, with high-resolution audio and video recording capabilities that put George Orwell’s Big Brother to shame. In the web-based world, we’re always on stage but we don’t always control the spotlight. ORM is the solution to take back that control.

All of us in the digital age are vulnerable to attacks on our online reputations. Whether attacks originate from a self-inflicted lack of experience or those reacting to a perceived injustice, they’re present. As we move up in society, we’re likely to step on a few toes. And we may not be aware of it until the “offended” party takes their revenge online.

Ex-spouses, disgruntled customers, professional rivals, rogue employees, and truly any individual can scribble all over our public profiles. That tarnishes our indelible worldwide whiteboard which records every aspect of our online reputations for public consumption. Whether we work in the spotlight or the local stage, we’re all on the worldwide stage of the digital age.

Everything Online is Permanent, but Silence is Not an Option

While everything online is permanent, hiding from the digital spotlight is not a viable solution in today’s world. If you don’t control the conversation surrounding your online reputation someone else will. Set social media aside for a minute. Even old public records have made the digital transformation from the basement file cabinet to the public internet. Mugshots, court cases, FCC violations, and arrest records are all there waiting for fresh eyes. And anyone with malicious intent or legitimate intent can evaluate your public profile for career opportunities or exploitation.

At Reputation Sciences we have the proprietary technology to protect your personal, professional, and corporate brands with a digital strategy you can count on. When you’re ready to take the reins of your online reputation and build a brand that shows you in the best possible light to the world don’t hesitate to contact us at (844) 458-6735 .

The post Everything Online is Permanent: How Your Internet History is a Public Record appeared first on Reputation Sciences.