Reputation Management 101

C.G. Lynch has a well researched piece over at CIO.com today that looks at the need for young professionals to monitor their Facebook profiles in an increasingly wired world. The article, which does mention the damaging consequences of an unprofessional online profile, focuses on how to balance personal and professional networking needs.

As colleagues, customers, peers and upper management jump on the social networking band wagon, early Facebook adopters are posed with a significant question: Who Am I Online? As Alison Driscoll, a marketing copywriter, comments insightfully in the piece:

“My profile is private, meaning only friends can see it,” she says. “But I vacillate on whether this a good or bad idea. I feel like people reading my blog may want to check out my profile without having to friend me. However, I want to friend people who read or follow me, so it’s a catch-22.”

Setting up “Friend Lists” can help demarcate online boundaries. According to Justin Smith, these lists classify colleagues into different categories: “They enable you to add people to lists such as College Friends, Work Friends, etc.,” Smith says. “They set privacy setting per friend list instead of per friend.”

Other suggestions from leading online reputation managers include using Facebook for personal networking and other, professional services like LinkedIn to connect with business contacts.

University of Maryland Professor Chris Dellarocas sees online reputation management appearing in schools in the near future. He says learning to effectively manage public and private avatars “should be taught in high school.” Does that mean that student can look forward to a mid-term of super pokes and zombie attacks? We can only hope.