At every search related conference I attend, there’s a general consensus that Reputation Management is a big issue, especially with the loss of privacy as the world becomes more open, and the ‘permanence’ of artifacts (photos, documents, videos) on the web. Then later that night, those same people head out to the nearest bar, and get sloshed. Of course, when people are drunk, they do things that they normally wouldn’t, but those pictures are still being taken and that video is still being shot.

The same is true at your company holiday parties. It’s all well and fine to have fun, but that fun can come back to haunt you should anyone post pictures or video online with either your name or that of your company. Do you really need your customers to see your CEO doing his Elvis impression? Do you want your next employer to search for you and find a shot of you with a lampshade on your head? Most likely not. So what can you do? Can you prevent the pictures from going out? Well, if you can prevent them from being taken, yes. Keep an eye on your situation, don’t allow yourself to be in an compromising situations. Don’t let people take your picture, unless you’re in control of the situation.

What about when it does get online? Firstly, you can ask people to take down any pictures that you feel may portray you, or your company in a bad light. If they won’t, then you need to take control of your search footprint, and make sure that these pictures / videos aren’t so easily found.

I’ll end this warning post with a picture of me, from the last conference in Chicago, doing something that I wouldn’t normally do… here I am playing pool… badly.  Oh wait, that is something that I normally do.

Filed under: Reputation Management on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 by Simon Heseltine |
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