Real-Time Rep Management

With Google's introduction of real-time results into their SERPs this week, a new wrinkle appears for online reputation management. A Facebook privacy change has also sent shockwaves through the industry.

Google in Real-Time
If your name or brand is mentioned on sites like Twitter, it is likely to start appearing near the top of the search results. (Watch a video about real-time integration here.)

This matters for ORM because now all the little tweets of the world surrounding your brand or name become more visible to the generic searcher.

The 'fight' to manage how others perceive your name again extends beyond the Google top 10.

Facebook Drops a Bomb
Not wanting to be outdone, Facebook has announced new privacy settings that also complicate reputation management. In a release today, they've stated that users will now have to opt-out from having their status updates displayed to 'Everyone'.

Everyone includes the search engines.

The most troubling aspect of this announcement is that most users will not know to 'opt-out' to keep their status info private.

It's a shame, because this is a big deal when combined with Google's new real-time search.

Why?
Facebook has 350 million users and counting. That is huge compared to Twitter. Tweets in the SERPs? Eh . . . that's small potatoes.

Hundreds of millions of people having a policy changed on them overnight, which results in their mindless status updates popping up in the SERPs? Big.

We'll have to see how this plays out. Maybe the status updates will stay out of Google's grasp . . . but I'm guessing not.

People Just Don't Know
In watching over online rep management for 4 years, I know one thing - most people are clueless about what you can and can't find out about them using a search engine.

Google and Facebook just made it harder for the ignorant to have any protection whatsoever.

(image: wcouch)

Content Creation and Reputation Management

I caught an interesting article today on a Google Image issue suffered by our first lady, Michelle Obama. Apparently a racist picture comparing her to an ape was ranking highly in Google Images. (I haven't looked at the pic personally).

In CNN's report, they talked to two big names in search about the issue. One of the comments about managing an online reputation talked about Kanye West.

How's Kanye's Online Rep?
We all know Kanye has produced some less-than-stellar moments in 2009, and a lot of negative backlash has followed.

But Google 'Kanye West' and you'll see a generally standard set of search results. His website, some images, links to listen to his songs, his MySpace page.



Why isn't Kanye's online reputation ruined? Because he's a content creating machine.

That is, Kanye actively participates in a lot of digital forums. For one, he publishes his own site. That's a no brainer. If you are in any way aware of the "power of the internet", you should own yourname.com (or a very close variation if your name is generic).

Social Sites of our Times. They Rank.
Notice I mentioned Kanye's MySpace page ranking. MySpace may be sooo 2005, but in its place are the powers of Facebook and Twitter. Register an account on these social networking websites and create a profile. Publish some updates. Interact.

All these actions will help create a digital footprint for yourself, and let you proactively manage your online reputation.

You are a Brand.
It's important to look at yourself like a brand in the new digital age. Don't let the fact that employers will Google your name, or potential friends/significant others will do the same, just pass by.

Take action and follow some simple steps like registering yourname.com, and creating active profiles on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Being proactive about it will help protect you if anything negative somehow gets published about you online. And it might save you from having to hire these guys . . .

(image: hecyra)