10 Tips for Developing and Keeping a Positive Online Reputation

1. Google Your Name Regularly (Kujawski, 2012)

Google is a top resource for all people on the internet. It is common knowledge that any potential employer, student or colleague may Google your name and find out anything they can about you. At my new school last year, I was embarrassed by students walking past me giggling and not understanding the nature of their extra attention towards me. It turns out they had found a couple of music videos that I had made for a band I was in several years ago. Luckily, there wasn’t anything inappropriate in the video and it was made in good fun. You might even call it art! However, it is a jarring wake-up call to realize that everything that I have ever left on the internet can be found by my students. Even the office staff confessed to having watched the videos I made. While this is was a relatively innocuous event, it made me very cautious of everything I put on the internet.

2. If Your Cant’t Find It on Google, It Might As Well Not Exist. (Lowenthal, 2012)

Again, Google is a top resources, so if you have some evidence of a professional or personal accomplishment that cannot be found on Google it might as well not exist. Strange that you can be sure of your accomplishments, however, to the digital world “pics or it didn’t happen” is a real force behind the court of public opinion. Be sure that your past employment, blog posts and any special awards or moments of recognition are documented and available online. I am seeing now how it would also be important to document your slideshows by posting them to SlideShare with relevant tags and posting your most accomplished projects and written works to a blog or personal website.

3. Create and Control Your Online “Unique Value Position”  (Kujawski, 2012)

I especially like this tip, because it relates deeply to what we have already learned in this class and to later tips in this list. Your “Unique Value Position” relates the Neo-Liberal or Branded Self (discussed below). It is that position which can be monetized. Who am I? What professional skills do I offer? In this class, we have discussed the importance of social networking in professional develop in CoPs and PLNs. Your UVP is your ability to produce content or teach skills that can be of value to others. This is especially important for the 21st century and professionals of all over the world. We have to be our own advocate and occasionally toot our own horn, so to speak.

4. Don’t Share What Do You Don’t Want Your Grandmother to See (Koekemoer, 2012)

This is a golden rule for sure. At this point in our professional careers we are most likely mature enough to realize that our private lives and professional lives too often overlap. And our pictures from our early twenties can haunt us for a long time. Take control of what you post and who can see it. Old albums of photos on Facebook need to be hidden or deleted. Keep yourself safe and protected. Not everything that we do needs to be known by our employers or prospective employers.

5. Be Consistent (Koekemoer, 2012)

Creating an online brand is difficult and challenging. What is more frustrating about the deluge of content on the internet is that if you are inconsistent about your digital presence, your audience will turned off your feed and eventually your content will fall to the bottom of their feeds. One must not become obsolete or irrelevant by  failing to keep up with their digital presence. This is a challenge for me as I tend to be a dreamer and planner, and start many things without following them through to fruition. I look forward to challenging myself to post at least 1-2 blog posts outside of what is required for this class per week.

6. Create and Keep Current Your LinkedIn Account (Hacker, 2011)

If you have been paying attention to the purchase of LinkedIn by Microsoft, you may have read the lofty goals the company has set for itself in terms of professional networking. If you wish to establish a UVP, LinkedIn may be on of the best places to reach an audience of colleagues and potential employers. It has also been a great place to link creative content from your professional career. It is important to keep this information fresh and up to date even if you are employed and comfortable in your current position.  Be sure to think about the potential benefits to having a competitive LinkedIn account in your field. It also makes your employer proud to call you a member of their team and reassures them of your value within their company. I would imagine that it could also constitute bargaining potential salary negotiations.

7. Blog Before Publishing (Lowenthal, 2012)

At this point in our career (speaking to students in the Masters program at Boise State), we may not be concerned with publishing. So I believe the advice set forth in the article by Professor Lowenthal is important. We should be our own advocate, publishing our own work on our blogs and keeping ourselves relevant. It is possible that one day our blog could be supported by larger sites that could connect you with a larger audience. This would be a great boon to your career and not inconceivable.

8. The Divide Between Online and Off-line is Hazy and Possibly Irrelevant (Levine, 2012) (Jurgenson, 2011)

Digital dualism is not a thing anymore. What we say and do online can have effects on our day-to-day lives and certainly our livelihood. This is true for students and for educators. Our digital presence is an extension of our organic reality. As Jurgenson states, “We are not crossing in and out of separate digital and physical realities, ala The Matrix, but instead live in one reality, one that is augmented by atoms and bits.” This is a powerful concept. While I think that The Matrix has more to do with denial inducing power structures within our organic and digital realities, the idea that our lives are organic and digital all at once requires a lot of pondering. If this is true, then there is an issue of equality that deserves attention as a large number of people either have limited network access and many people are limited in their understand of the language of networking and computing. This must all be address in the coming years along with other issues affecting society.

9. Be Aware of the 6 Key Public Selves (Stewart, 2012)

Is anyone feeling like they have a split personality disorder after reading this? Well listen to this. According Bonnie Stewart, she has identified 6 Key Public Selves: the performative, quantified, participatory, polysocial or augmented reality self and the neo-liberal branded self. I am not certain that these need to be separated into so many different categories. But I do recognize that they exist within the phenomenon of the networked self. Certain aspects of this “augmented reality” are down right narcissistic. For example, the quantified self refers to one’s capacity to maximize likes or social media “klout.” And I agree that the performative, public nature of the networked self does create a competitiveness that is interesting to analyze. In trying to gain a following, I am curious how often the filter of self-consciousness diminishes the authenticity of one’s digital persona. Not to mention how the quest for likes may create an appeal to popularity sort of mania.

As with all change, development or revolution there are cost and benefits. Let’s look at the asynchronous self.  I truly appreciate this quality of the social network. Direct messages from my mother when she knows I am on FB because of the green circle that appears by my name creates an anxiety that is very distracting from my workflow. I know this is selfish, but wouldn’t it be nice if she just collected all of her little anecdotes about her dogs and my dad and gave me a weekly update via email? If only! Such communication along with telephone calls are frustrating because they can disrupt your work patterns. I am sure that generations before us would read such things with baffled amusement. How can we neglect our loved ones in real-time to meet or deadlines  or correspond with colleague via the online network asynchronously?  Well, when my mother sees that I am online on FaceBook, she assumes I must  be free to chat, because, for her, Facebook is a source entertainment during her leisure time. To us, it is a tool for our professional development.  The asynchronous self assumes that I do not have to be ‘live’ on the network to still participate or be active. Finally, the branded self is the aspect of our online identity that seeks to monetize ourselves. It requires us to find our niche. I am planning to make a goal in the next year to create a consistent web presence focused on the skills that I am developing in the classroom and the qualities of my networked self that I am developing in the EdTech program.

10. Proactively Protect Your Social Map (Clark, 2014)

Our social map can be very useful. It can be empowering and it can damning. I have lost friends based on social-political discussions. I have alienated friends because of my profession (teaching at a Catholic School). My social map is a valuable learning conduit from which I can gain a unique perspective about the world through my connections. However, I can also make public aspects of my identity which may not be relevant or necessary for the world to see. Accordingly, if I am careless with my social map and the connection I make, it can have dire consequences for my future and the legacy I leave behind in the digital world which will most likely outlive me.

 

References:

Clark, M. (2014, July 24). Digital footprints | Michelle Clark | TEDxHollywood. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlGyTp4Nd4M

Hacker, P. (2011, February 14). Creating your web presence. Retrieved June 18, 2016, from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/creating-your-web-presence-a-primer-for-academics/30458

Juregneson, N. (2011, February 24). Digital dualism versus augmented reality. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/02/24/digital-dualism-versus-augmented-reality/

Koekemoer, A. (2012, April 8). Your digital footprint in a social media world. Retrieved June 18, 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/AntonRSA/your-digital-footprint-in-a-social-media-world

Kujawski, M. (2012, May 17). Managing your personal digital footprint. Retrieved June 18, 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/mikekujawski/tools-and-tips-for-managing-your-personal-digital-footprint

Levine, A. (2012, March 21). We, our digital selves, and us. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from https://youtu.be/9ziS3mpjgvI

Lowethal, P. .. (2012, January 5). Intentional web presence: 10 seo strategies every Academic needs to know. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/6/intentional-web-presence-10-seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-to-know

Stewart, B. (2012, May 6). Digital identities: six key selves. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from http://theory.cribchronicles.com/2012/05/06/digital-identities-six-key-selves/