Creating Your Online Reputation
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People networking in public spaces such as FaceBook or MySpace need to be conscious of the biographical trail of crumbs that they are leaving. Though authenticity is a highly regarded commodity on the Internet,it isn’t always necessary to attach a real name to any online endeavors unrelated to your professional career.
“I can think of a lot of people who will Google a name just before they go out on a date. So if your potential employer Googles a name and sees your social life, that can be good, but it can also hinder you.
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Just because HR professionals aren’t looking at profiles so much right now, that doesn’t mean that won’t happen because something like FaceBook is becoming extremely popular.I think the caution I have is that you can find out a lot of information about people. Some of it depends on whether you want everyone at your workplace and people in those networks to know.
Anything of a personal nature on a blog, be it politics, a controversial lifestyle, religious views or a journal of your dating life needs to be shielded by sticking with a pseudonym and taking other precautions to conceal an identity.
“I think it will really come back, sooner than later, to haunt them. And people are very cavalier about the Internet space and it’s unfortunate. Google your name often. Negative Internet comments are like tattoos; they’re permanent.”
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Anything attached to your name should be executed with a view that one day that material could be read by a potential employer. On the Internet, you are the author of your own biographical who’s who material and you’ll want to edit it with caution.




