Personal reputation management is a relatively new industry that has sprung up in response to frequent online libeling and defamation of others. The Internet’s relatively anarchic state means that people can pretty much say whatever they want and suffer no negative repercussions because of it. Few suits about online defamation ever really produce positive results for the victims.

The following is just the beginning excerpt of an article regarding this problem and how it might be fixed.

There has been a substantial increase in internet-based attacks launched prior to and during litigation. These are designed to either obtain leverage in a lawsuit or harm a competitor. To avoid detection, the attackers commonly use fake Facebook pages and anonymous e-mail accounts. Unfortunately, these types of accounts can be set up without providing a correct name, address, credit card, or other verifiable information — factors that encourage this type of activity.

This article will address both the legal and technical steps you should take when a client is subject to internet-based activity that damages the client’s personal or business reputation. When these internet attacks are launched anonymously, efforts to protect your client’s reputation and remove the websites promptly may be complicated, but they are not impossible.

The entire article is a lesson in personal reputation management for clients who might not have otherwise known what to do after being libeled or defamed online.

http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202463962346&How_to_Protect_Client_Reputation_From_Web_Attacks

Mashable is a great blog that often covers issues of importance to the reputation risk management industry. The article, linked below, gives three tips for managing your online reputation. The excerpted is part of number two:

Although it’s a good idea to ask people to remove embarrassing content about you, in the majority of cases the best course is to make sure that you are the first and best source of information about yourself appearing on Google and other major search engines. “Crowding out,” or pushing that embarrassing party photo down in the search rank can be achieved over time. This approach is best combined with an ethos of developing a thicker skin.

This is solid advice, and there’s more to be found in the article.

http://mashable.com/2010/04/08/managing-online-reputation/

The importance of social networking sites to personal reputation management cannot be emphasized enough. These sites drive traffic and command top spots in search engine results. More importantly, they often have to do with you, yes you. This means they are immediately important to virtually everyone, in both good and bad ways. On the negative side, when someone google’s your name, they are quite likely to find your facebook wall, twitter feed, and Blogspot profile–all of which might contain information you don’t want prospective employers seeing. Similarly, businesses have to be careful to control their branding online.

Facebook provides a platform for businesses to build pages showcasing their products and services. LinkedIn has become a massive talent pond that can’t be ignored if an organisation is serious about hunting for talent. Twitter with its flagship bird is enabling people globally to exchange tweets about what is happening around them. YouTube continues to show videos of events happening around our globe. Organisations have an opportunity to harness such platforms to communicate with their targeted audience. The strategy is to have a mix of talent sourcing and branding platforms suitable for each identified talent market.

This is a tall order, of course, and much easier to say than to do. Still, this statement is as true as they come in regards to the power of social media.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/410/22/46570.html

Unvarnished is a new website that builds on an old idea. Unvarnished is to individuals what Yelp is to businesses–which is to say, it allows strangers to review individuals. There is a question raging over the website, though, about whether it will simply become an instrument for malcontents, or serve a genuine purpose.

Critics say there is little to prevent the Web site’s conversation from devolving into the hate fests found on so many sites populated with anonymous comments. But others say the honesty on Unvarnished might not just be a breath of fresh air but a potentially helpful resource for recruiters looking to fill jobs.

Frankly, I think it is likely that the website will devolve into the anarchy of the Internet. Time and experience has proven that anonymity on the Internet just leads to bad behavior by commenters. As a result, the website could have a major effect on search engine reputation management.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/people-ratings-site-unvarnished-unleashes-controversy/story?id=10267223

Every couple of months we get a new survey which illuminates just how under-appreciated the industry of web reputation management is. The numbers are more shocking this time than at any time in the past, amazingly.

according to a recent survey of 1100 hiring managers, 70% of U.S. companies say they have disqualified candidates based on what they find online when they do those searches. That same survey found that only 7% of U.S. consumers think their online footprint affects their job search.

Seventy percent of businesses disqualifying candidates based on online information while only seven percent of candidates think that is important is just atrocious. It speaks to the lack of knowledge on the subject that numbers like this could appear. Lest you think this survey is junk, it involved an unusually high number of participants and was run for Microsoft for research purposes.

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/sciencecareers/2010/03/employers-consi.html

Roseanne Barr has made statements that make even the craziest of people say, “Uhhh, that’s nuts”. Roseanne Barr is in some hot water over her comments regarding Marie Osmond’s son, who recently committed suicide.

“How sickening. I know so many Mormon kids who were gay and committed suicide, and I just cannot and will not stay quiet in order to not offend bigots anymore. It is all so terribly depressing.

“Marie please don’t talk about how your faith in your church has helped you get through this one! Please get some integrity and tell that church of yours that you will leave it and stop giving it ten percent of your money if they don’t stop trying to destroy your kids’ and all gay people’s civil rights and dreams and hopes!!

“G-d is trying to use you for something good and this is your opportunity! Your church is wrong and on the wrong wrong wrong side of things! Get as vocal about that as you are about your diet. G-d bless you too, Marie.

This is going to do damage to Roseanne’s already-ruined reputation online. The blogosphere is taking her to task over her comments, too, so the controversy is not likely to die down anytime soon. A little personal reputation management would go a long way for Ms. Barr, who seems to have a penchant for finding controversies like this.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/03/roseanne-barr-blames-mormon-church-death-marie-osmonds-son

Attorney Dimitrios Biller is a nightmare for Toyota right now. By now, anyone who is following the news has heard that Toyota has had to make a major recall which has damaged their image, as well as their bottom line, badly.So why do they need to fear a lawyer on top of all this?

The automaker could be in for an even worse time if it can’t find a way to shut down attorney Dimitrios Biller. He’s the former national managing counsel who oversaw the company’s National Rollover Program from 2003 to 2007. Now he’s a whistle-blower claiming the Japanese giant has been hiding potentially damning evidence that should have been provided to owners who’ve sued the company over allegedly defective products.

Toyota has enough problems already with Biller out there either finding more or drawing attention to more. They have already attempted to minimize his effect through dismissals of his accusations and controlling his reputation, i.e. calling him a disgruntled former employee. One thing is clear, though. By the end of this debacle, both Toyota and Biller will need a company to clean up, and protect them from, all the internet defamation that is being slung at them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33192916/ns/business-the_drivers_seat/

Employers are now admitting that they often Google applicants’ names in order to unearth extra information about them that they might not get in an interview. If your facebook has statuses of you mouthing off about how drunk you got, or how you’re “bored at work”, you can kiss that job goodbye. This is where personal reputation management comes in.

When Megan Maloney lost her job at a Detroit auto supplier last April, she made sure her online reputation was as strong as the image she would present in person to prospective employers. She Googled herself to check for unflattering links. Then she changed her Facebook privacy setting so no one could see beyond her profile picture. She updated her profile on LinkedIn.

Megan certainly did the right thing–you can read more about what happened to her and others at the link below.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/20/manage-online-reputation-leadership-careers-identity.html

This article at GetElastic gives some very good pointers concerning how to find a good reputation manager. The author clearly has done this a time or two and knows the ins-and-outs of the industry fairly well. The article also speaks to the many hats that reputation managers must wear.

Depending on the size of your business and consumer propensity to search for your name, you may require a PR/social media marketing firm or in-house professional to handle your reputation management needs, serving as a community evangelist and corporate spokesperson full-time. Many companies have this and a search on any job board for “Public Relations Manager” or “Community Manager” may include reputation management in the list of responsibilities.

The article is much longer and has more gems of knowledge to share. Web libel is a serious problems for businesses and it should be combated early and often.

http://www.getelastic.com/how-to-find-an-online-reputation-manager/

Message to Southwest: Don’t screw with Kevin Smith. The famed director of movies like Clerks and Dogma was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight, supposedly for being “too fat to fly”, though Mr. Smith says the company admitted to him that that was not the reason at all. At any rate, Smith has been lambasting the company on his twitter all day–a fiery attack which reached his 1.6 million twitter-followers loud and clear. Southwest is, naturally, having to back off now.

The controversy is a public relations challenge for Southwest. The airline had the lowest rate of passenger complaints among U.S. airlines last year, according to a government report issued last week.

Of course, none of that matters now–the story has broken wide open and Kevin Smith is basically on a crusade at this point, one which will either end in lost business for Southwest or an apology. Either way, Southwest Airlines would benefit from some corporate reputation management.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/15/kevin.smith.southwest/index.html?hpt=C2