What Your Online Reputation Says About You

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me!" Remember that one from your youth? Pretty good advice for the real world. But unfortunately, when it comes to today's virtual world, names really can hurt you.

With the advent of social networks, Web 2.0 and other forms of online communication such as blogs and search engines--what others say (and post) about you, can have a big impact on your reputation--and your career!

The stories, pictures, videos and status updates posted by and about you can impact your job search, getting a promotion--and even staying employed. In fact, according to a recent study, 77% of recruiters use search engines to screen prospective job candidates (ExecuNet survey).

So how can you protect yourself? The following are some tips that will help you find out what is out there about you, the steps you can take to manage your reputation, and how you can permanently remove damaging information from cyberspace.

Step 1: Become a detective

Google yourself.
According to Chris Dellarocas, a Professor at the University of Maryland, "Google is no longer just a search engine; it's a reputation engine." A good place to start managing your online reputation is by conducting a little of your own research. Start at the beginning by Googling all different forms of your name, your phone number and your address.

Your credibility may depend on what is found in such searches. You don't know what is out there until you look.

Check out the social networking scene.
The major search engines don't have access to everything, including over 60 million Facebook profiles that aren't accessible to search engines. Search through some of these sites to see where your name shows up. Also, check your friends' pages to make sure they don't have any crazy pictures or stories about you (true or untrue) posted on their profiles.

Check "people search" engines.
Sites such as Pipl, Spock, Wink and ZoomInfo have been coined "people search engines." These sites take information from websites, such as social networks, and puts it all together into profiles of information. Although these pages can be helpful, they often can mistakenly take several people with the same name and lump them together.

Check Wikipedia.
Don't forget to look through this massive online encyclopedia.

Conduct a background check.
Many employers require a background check before hiring a new employee. Do you know what a check will say about you? Such checks reveal a ton of personal information such as if you own property, if you can carry a weapon, if you've ever been convicted of a crime, if you've ever been late paying your taxes, how many times you've been married/divorced, etc. It's important to know what is out there about you to make sure that it's accurate. (Especially with the prevalence of identity fraud.) Many background checks require payment; however, the company ChoicePoint allows you to request a free public record report. In addition, you may want to run a free credit report each year.

Step 2: Find something? How to have it removed.

Remember to say please.
Ah, more words of wisdom from our youth. All kidding aside, the easiest way to remove something from the web is to ask whoever posted the information to "please" take it down. While it's easy for you to remove your Spring Break videos from YouTube, it may not be easy if it's not on your account. And even though you can take down your MySpace page, once something is posted to the web you can't be certain as to other places parts of it may be.

Call in the big guns.
There are some pay services available such as DefendMyName and Reputation Defender's MyReputation service that search the Internet to uncover information about you and help you have it removed.

Take legal action.
If there is false information posted somewhere about you and the site owner refuses to take it down, you may be able to take legal action.

Never post too much information.
The truth is, once something is posted online, it's hard to permanently delete it. Therefore, never ever post too much information, or anything that you wouldn't want your mother to see.

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