First Impressions

I was reading the Entreprenuer Daily blog this weekend and I came across an article on controlling your personal image online. Basically it was a girl talking to a professor at Duke that was saying he is a professor and it would not be right to put pictures of himself playing beer pong on his Facebook page because it would give the wrong impression. Now this guy obviously was making a point I doubt he plays beer pong but the point is that so many people don’t think about anything they do and how it can affect them in the real world, they are stuck in the “Social Networking” world. This world allows them to directly effect people’s perceptions of them on a personal level, much as having a website for your business can make your business look 10X bigger. So if you want to look like a big shot, you can. I get a few resumes a week for people wanting a job, graphic designer, web designer, whatever. The first thing I do is check out their name on google and myspace/facebook. Still I find people with pictures of them drunk at a club, or with some strippers, I don’t think I have to say this is not the stuff you want as your first impression from a potential employer.

What can you do to control your image online? Well you can stop putting up crazy pictures online. If you have to share that picture of you drunk at cousin Tony’s wedding then you can email it or put it in an online album that is only viewable to certain people. Online reputation management is a huge industry right now, partially because people do not think of the ramifications of posting things online. Complaints websites, bloggers, a ton of places online will re-post anything they feel is out of line so you have to watch what you say online. My mother always told me to “Never write down anything I did not want everyone to read.” I think about this on a daily basis now especially with all the access you have to each individuals personal details.

So before you post something on someones facebook about poker night and winning money, or send a message to someone about something you do not want everyone to know remember it is only a click away from being public knowledge.

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