Importance of Online Reputation

We can all learn from the viral videos of scandals and gossip news of celebrities that damage their careers. One small mistake captured on camera or video can make or break anyone --- whether you’re a celebrity or not. With the technology available to us these days, it only takes a few minutes, and a few clicks to make or break your reputation. It may or may not be the truth, but that doesn’t matter, because most of the times, it can ruin you before you can even prove yourself.

So why is it important to protect yourself online? Even if you’re not a business, let’s say you’re just an employee looking for work (both online and offline), or you’re a simple citizen minding your own world, you need to protect your name because you may lose your job or your relationships may be broken.

So how do you protect your online personal branding? Start off by making sure your name or brand is registered in major social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Make sure all the information you enter in each of these sites are consistent, so people will know it’s you. Also make sure your privacy settings are set to only those people you know, so you don’t give away private information or pictures to people you don’t know.