With recent media headlines about employers and recruiters making hiring decisions based on Facebook information and other social media content, it’s more important than ever to know and manage your online reputation.
After a one hit clean up involving an in-depth Google review of yourself and/or your business, modification of your privacy settings on all social media (including updating LinkedIn, deleting old Bebo accounts, flickr albums and ensuring your Facebook settings are as private as possible for personal accounts), it’d be wise to set up a system to monitor your online reputation.
The PR Doc has written a great article “Reputation Management and Online Customer Service” which summarises a range of tools available for individuals and small businesses: The PR Doc.
Not listed there is a tool released in 2012 - Mention. It's been likened to other great low cost productivity tools for individuals and small business - Dropbox and Evernote. In March 2012, TechCrunch reviewed the tool and said Mention “provides a simple app for tracking what’s being said about you, your business, or any other keyword you may want to follow”.
Based on the price (free) and ease of use (simple) it'd be wise to take 2 minutes now to sign up and manage your online reputation because this is one area that will only increase in importance as our love of technology and connectedness grows.
