How To Protect, Fix Your Online Reputation

Expert Explains Dangers Of Negative Web Postings, And Tells How To Avoid And Repair Them

(CBS)  Did you ever "google" yourself and find something negative?

It should worry you. Just one negative posting can cost you a job

It's estimated that more than 70 percent of employers do a Web search on job applicants as part of their hiring procedures. More than half of them admit to not bringing someone on board because of negative information they found online.

It could be something you posted years ago, or something put into cyberspace by someone you know - or even a perfect stranger.

What can you do about it?

Michael Fertik, founder of ReputationDefender.com, had some advice on The Early Show Saturday Edition.

Fertik says he started the business two years ago with one person. He now has 60 employees. His service costs about $10 a month.

Fertik told substitute co-anchor Seth Doane that safeguarding your online reputation is “as important as your credit score nowadays. Every life transaction that you have, whether you’re looking for a job, you’re looking for romance, you’re looking for a friend - people are gonna look you up on the Web and make conclusions based on what they find.

"One random, idiosyncratic piece of content about you on the Web could dominate your Google results forever," he said. "It's such an issue: It affects people who are undeserving, people who are sort of using bad judgment, all kinds of different people."

What's worse, legal recourse is murky at best, Fertik observed, saying, "The law hasn't caught up yet with privacy. The Internet has really changed the privacy landscape in a big way and the law hasn't yet caught up with it. It's lagging behind, so far."

Fertik stressed that, "You have to be on top of your (online) reputation. It's not about narcissism. It’s about your personal brand. Especially in a down economy, people are looking you up, they’re making decisions. They're denying you a job unless they find something really good about you on the Web."

He had three key pieces of advice:

First, never let anyone set up your reputation online. Establish yourself online to create a clear and positive image of you. Don't wait for someone else to destroy it. Use what he calls "Google insurance": Create a profile on something like Facebook that's positive and tasteful. Claim the real estate on your name. What is said about you on the Web isn't a function of you living a righteous life: Anyone can say something bad about you. "Write your own history," he recommended.

Second, if there's a problem with your online reputation, you have to find it. Constantly monitor the Web. Search for full names, usernames, etc. Be on top of the game. Go deep into the Internet to Web sites that aren't indexed by Google: "The deep Web - Facebook, MySpace, the pages where the content really starts to generate and become problematic."

"Monitor yourself assiduously," Fertik told Doane.

Third: The longer it's there, the more it spreads and can be archived. If you see a problem, deal with it quickly. Get in touch with people and tell them to stop, in a kind and thoughtful way, without getting a lawyer involved right away. Reach them on a human level. If you want professional help, companies such as ReputationDefender are available. As Fertik told Doane, "Nip it in the bud before it spreads and gets mirrored and replicated. If you can't do it, you want to hire the pros."

If you do find something bad about yourself, how do you get it offline?
"Sometimes," Fertik responded to Doane, "what we do is, we overwhelm the 'bad' with good to make sure that when people look you up, they see what you want them to see, they see your good videos, not necessarily the (bad ones)."

[rf35]

Now that I think about it, that priest thing could be a problem. I wouldn''t want future employers to think I am a pedophile!

[rf35]

I only come up once on Google and only when I use my full name and middle initial. It''s a complimentary article in the on-line archive of a small local newspaper from a location I was at several years ago. Using just my first and last name, I mostly appear to be an aerospace professor or a priest.

[jtormey3]

Then, there''s the case of failed public officals and reprehensible public figures:
www[dot]BobbySturgell[dot]com
www[dot]BobbySturgell[dot]net
www[dot]BobbySturgell[dot]org

[carlylaine]

I am as nasty on the internet as I am in real life. Hence, I''ve gotten myself in trouble with every one in authority or I should say...thinks they are in authority over me. Anyone on the net whotries to ''set me straight'' according to their thinking will get a blast. I love the anonymity. It doesn''t make me better or worse...

Imagined or not....no one has authority over me. This shows all over the net. And I never use my real name.

DON''T TREAD ON ME

[tucson23]

I''ve got a better idea for employers...if they find anything at all about a job candidate, good or bad, they should pass. Why? They''re too stupid to know not to use their real name online, and/or they''re so vain that they think millions of people really care about their cat and their taste in music. Vain or stupid, neither makes a great employee.

[mainedoggie]

Are people still that stupid that they use their real name on the web?

Good Lord. Americans are digustingly vain eh? Facebook? My Space?

The beauty of anonymity is not having to be nice to other a-holes online. Say what you wish, and mean it.
AKA - Flame em and Forget em!

[birric]

What utter rubbish. So with this kind of service, the ones who can afford it can have a good reputation and the ones who don''t get screwed. Well, I think this ought to be made known to every employer. Then the employer will understand that a gleaming internet record means zilch. In fact, it is the wonderful records which should raise a red flag by itself. So, employers, stop being dumbos and don''t even look at the internet. In all likelihood you will get the wrong impression about the applicant.

[msay3]

An intelligent employer merely needs to look at a candidate''''s university transcripts and an impromptu sample of the candidate''''s writing to see the person''''s true substance.

Posted by anon00 at 07:30 PM : Jan 10, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don''t be too sure.....There are people who do and say things they think will never be a problem (particularly if they are drunk or "role playing" when they are online.)

[stinginrich]

Poor Rowdy.....they''d charge her a couple $Mil just to attempt a repair and then tell her it''s a lost cause.....LMMFAO

[debinok1]

TexHillGirl is just BAD TO THE BONE so says her ex he tried for a long time demswin2008

Posted by Texhillman99
*****************
The only thing BAD about TexHillGirl aka Rowdy is her attitude. If she ever figures that out she would probably get along with people better.

[debinok1]

Here is a hint, don''t post something on the web you would be ashamed to say or do in public. Then you have no need of these defenders.

[erasmus606]

"Online dialogue is naturally different from what people present in public. And anybody who doesn''''t see that is an idiot."

You mean I''m not the same sweet, good natured person offline as I am online?:(

[centerfall94]

Wow this is an article for rowtexthillgirlhatespammer if I ever saw one!!

[osiod9]

Whats up with this article? Its the same one that ran last year about the same lame company. I see they at least now updated their web site to more professional design. Their service is such a crock its not funny. They imply they can do something you cant do yourself because of their so called ''years of experience''. What a load of bull.

If someone posts something negative about you, its ususally pretty easy to get it removed yourself. Personal attacks are against the TOS of every website I can think of. Doesnt matter if its true or not. If it is, you probably deserve to be raked over the coals, so take your lumps and get over it. If its not well, remember what your mother told you when you were a kid- sticks and stones...

[osiod9]

None of your posts has anything to do with the subject of the article. You are all a bunch of brain dead imbeciles who think their political views actually mean something. Heres a clue: Nobody gives a flying fuque what you think.

[search4truth-2009]

tinothyone,

You are really off base with your views of Jews. You must be a Democrat, obviously. If you were "just" a human being you would see that the history of Jews shows them to be oppressed and slaughtered at every opportunity.
The Palestiians send suicide bombers and rockets to SPECIFGICALLY kill Jewish civilians and that doesn''t register with you OR the Palestiians as provocative?

If you lived next to someone that did the same thing what would YOU do???

[timothyone-2009]

Holy Craap!! I never thought about any of that!! Now that I condemned the killing of so many children in Palestine I will never again be hired by a Jew! I hear they make great bosses as long as you aren''t Arab. I hear they are great people as long as you give them their way and all your land. I hear they believe in Democracy except for outsiders who were never chosen by God to be his own special people. Wow, now when they call me anti-Semite people will believe it! What the *uck is a Semite anyway? Can I hate them just by hating Imperialists who kill the innocent to take the lands of others? Am I really anti-Semitic when I cry at News scenes showing dead toddlers in their grieving father''s arms? You know, those sweet little ones who look so much like my grandkids! Maybe I am anti-Semitic, even though I can''t think of one that I hate, and even though the Palestinians I cry for are also Semitic, or so I''ve always read. Maybe it''s only the God-chosen one''s who count. We know how that works. Bush must be a Semite. Him and his constituency. They all act like they''re the only one''s who count. I need to be a Semite too. Just to make sure my grandkids aren''t killed by Jewish soldiers or sent to Iraq to die in a war for oil.