Entries from February 2010 ↓

We say it every week on Meet the ReputationDefender Team, but the best thing about being a ReputationDefender employee is the great team of people that you get to work with. Today, we want to introduce the person responsible for helping to assemble such a great team, our Human Resources Manager Marisa Zuiderweg. Learn more about Marisa below (and learn more about our open job listings here).

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Marisa Zuiderweg, and I am the Human Resources Manager. I also manage recruiting, event planning and office management. I’m pretty awesome.

What did you do prior to joining ReputationDefender?

ReputationDefender is the 3rd early stage start-up that I have worked at. The first start-up I ever worked at was Facebook, so I am bringing some really good luck with me.

What attracted you to ReputationDefender?

I came to RD because of the real need for the products we are able to offer to our clients and the amazing group of people I get to work with.

Why do you think it’s important for people to manage their reputations online?

People are using the internet as a source of information and until ReputationDefender there was no one to help you monitor/manage what is seen about you.

When you’re not helping individuals control and protect their good names online, what do you like to do in your spare time?

I recently ran a half marathon and I am training to run a full marathon in June. I also enjoy playing piano, cooking, and being really awesome.

What’s your all-time favorite website?

ReputationDefender.com, duh.

In today’s Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits, we learn why it is important to think before you post a joke on Facebook, and why privacy seems to be a much more important issue in Europe than in the United States.

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Australian Government Seeks Answers for Internet Safety Concerns

20 Australian high school students have been suspended for establishing a Facebook page mocking one of their teachers. This latest incident comes on the heels of two other Facebook-related incidents in Australia, which has prompted the Prime Minister to consider appointing an Internet ombudsmen to act as a liaison between Internet companies and the government to resolve issues of cyberbullying, hacking, and other cyber crimes.

Bug Temporarily Reroutes Facebook Messages

For a brief period of time yesterday evening, some Facebook users had their messages accidentally rerouted to different people. The bug, which Facebook says was fixed by engineers quickly, only affected a small percentage of users. Nevertheless, how embarrassing would it be to find out a personal message was rerouted to a total stranger.

Twitter Phishing Attacks Claim UK Bank as Victim

Over night, a number of high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised by a phishing attack causing pornographic direct messages to be sent to the infected user’s followers. One of the Twitter accounts compromised was the UK bank First Direct. The attack underscores the importance of maintaining tight security, using strong passwords, not clicking on any suspicious links, and being prepared with a communications strategy should an attack occur.

European Union Voices Objections Over Google Street View

The European Union is again criticizing Google over its popular but controversial Street View program. According to CNET, the EU has sent Google a letter insisting that the company “warn towns and cities before it snaps photos” and “cut the time it keeps the original photos online from a year to six months.” For its part, Google says it does everything within its power to preserve the anonymity of individuals who might be caught on camera and that, furthermore, the pictures Google takes for Street View are all on public property.

Google’s Italian Court Case Was Lose-Lose

The European Union’s latest objection over Street View is just the latest problem for Google in Europe. In a PCWorld article, Jared Newman examines the recent Italian court decision that found three Google executives in violation of privacy laws for not working faster to remove a web video of three teens bullying a mentally disabled child. In his editorial, Newman argues that, even if the Google execs were found not guilty, the outcome was always going to be lose-lose for Google.

University Professor Suspended Over Joke on Facebook

A university professor has been suspended indefinitely after making a joke on her Facebook page about hiring a hitman to shoot her students. The Facebook postings, which were intended to be humorous, were seen by administrators as a legitimate threat to student safety. In light of a recent shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the administrators may have been right to be suspicious. If they hadn’t acted, and the professor was serious, they surely would have faced criticism for not taking the threat seriously.

On the Internet, it can be difficult to tell if someone is joking, particularly when the issue at hand involves the threat of violence. As demonstrated in this case, as well as in the case of a man who was banned from a UK airport for life after making a joke on Twitter, it is important for social media users to be extremely considerate of what they post online.

Are you a social media super user? Do you care about Internet privacy? Are you interested in helping men and women from around the world gain control over their identities on the web? If you said yes to any of these questions, then we invite you to consider joining the ReputationDefender team.

Since our inception in 2006, ReputationDefender has grown by leaps and bounds to become the world’s leading provider of online reputation management and Internet privacy products and services.  To ensure our continued growth and success throughout 2010 and beyond, however, we need to make sure that we continue to bring on the best and most passionate people possible. That’s why we’re putting out the word that we’re now hiring!

ReputationDefender Team Members Anna and Marisa at the Stanford Start-up Career Fair

That’s right. Even in the midst of “The Great Recession,” we’re hiring, and we want to make sure that we hire only the best. So, if you are looking to join a venture-backed company with national press coverage on CNN, Fox News, 20/20, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and Dr. Phil, we encourage you to check all of our open job listings today.

Currently, ReputationDefender is seeking new hires in a variety of areas. Our open positions range from part-time and full-time internships to managerial level roles in technology, customer support, and sales. If you think you’re a good fit (or if you know someone who might be), drop us a line, because we’d love to hear from you.

Class-Action Lawsuit Claims Small Business Owners are Extorted by Yelp

The consumer review website Yelp is facing a class-action lawsuit over the company’s allegedly extortionary ad sales tactics. According to reports from small business owners, Yelp sales representatives would contact them whenever their business received a negative review asking if they wanted to purchase premium ads. Allegedly, the sales reps implied that if small business owners did purchase advertising, the negative review would disappear. Those who didn’t purchase advertising would see the review remain, even if it were proven to be false or defamatory.

Social Networking + Browser Info = Easy Attacks for Cybercriminals

According to Ars Technica, a new report from a team of academic experts in the field of computer security reveals that through a combination of publicly available information on social networking websites and a hijacked broswer account, it is possible for cybercriminals to develop sophisticated and highly personalized phishing schemes.

White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen Gets a Twitter Account, Sports World Cringes

Famously hot-headed baseball manager Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox has established a Twitter account. Given his history of speaking his mind, even when he probably should keep his thoughts to himself, has made baseball reporters across the country eager to follow along with his tweets as they wait for his eventual public meltdown.

British Politicians Anxious Over Unauthorized Tweets

Some members of parliament in the United Kingdom claim that they have had their Twitter accounts hijacked. Considering how much value politicians place in connecting directly with their constituents, the prospect of someone taking over their Twitter accounts maliciously is quite terrifying.

Facebook Updates Finally Integrated Into Google Real Time Search

As announced all the way back in December, Google has finally begun integrating public Facebook updates into real time search. It is important to note that the information appearing in real time search is limited to fan page updates made by fan page administrators.

Knowing how to Google is much different than Googling. First off, typing in the appropriate phrases and operators can reduce search time if you don’t have to sift through a bunch of duds. Second, Google has a wide range of capabilities that are often ignored and neglected, capabilities that greatly improve the success of finding exactly what you’re looking for. Check out the modifiers listed below.

Basic Operators: Google has several basic modifiers designed to pare down what you are looking for.

Exact phrase: To maximize your search for an exact phrase, place the entire phrase in quotes.

Excluded words: Reduce results for words commonly associated with your search word by placing a negative sign on the word you want to exclude. For example, if searching for roller but not the word coaster, type roller –coaster into the search field.

Similar words: To find both a word and its synonyms, use of the tilde can increase results for all similar words. For example, type ~aircraft to find words like planes, helicopters, etc.

Multiple words: Avoid having to do multiple searches by placing an OR between two words you both want searched for with a root word, i.e. type car Honda OR Ford when you want information on both Honda and Ford cars.

Numerical ranges: Use ellipses to determine a range of numbers or time period. For example put in Harrison Ford 1975…1985 to find out about the actor during this time period.

Advanced Google Operators: Some nifty advanced modifiers can help you come up with what you’re looking for while letting you search in ways you didn’t know were possible.

Find meanings: Utilize the define: phrase to find the definitions of a word, for example define:calligraphy.

Site specific: When searching for only a specific type of site with specific information, type in the site: modifier. As an example, when searching through government sites for tax information type taxes site:gov to find just tax information on .gov websites.

Linked pages: If you need webpages that link to a particular website, type in the link: modifier to find all links to a particular site, i.e. link:www.ucla.com will pick up all sites that link to the University of California, Los Angeles website. Other useful modifiers include phonebook: to find residential phone listings; the stocks: modifier to find information on specific stocks, for example stocks:goog; weather: to find out info in any given city, i.e. weather:San Francisco; movie: to find out movie information; and flights: to find flights from one airport to another, for example flight:jfk bos.

SEO-Oriented Operators: One little known function of Google is that it lets you search through online documents for a title name or text reference on purpose, reducing the need to search through results that could come from anywhere in the document.

The allintitle: modifier seeks out all titles containing the exact words you are looking for. As an example, allintitle:horses and buggies will search through all documents containing the words horses and buggies in the title.

The allintext: modifier does the same search, yet through the text of the document. So allintext:horses and buggies brings up documents containing those exact words. To use the same kind of modifier to find the exact words in a URL, type in allinurl: followed by the words you’re looking for.

Calculator and Conversions: Google can also act as your personal calculator or conversion tool. To determine a calculation, plug in the equation into Google using the +,-,*, /, %, or ^. Google also performs advanced mathematics, including square roots, i.e. sqrt (25); and non-square roots, for example 4th root of 56. Use Google to find sin, cos, arctan, tan, or other functions by typing in sin(pi/7) or tan(4/5*pi). To use Google’s conversion function, type in in radians or in degrees after the equation. For example 4/5 in degrees or 56*.4 in radians will give you the equivalent. Other conversion modifiers include cm in foot (i.e. 45 cm in foot), C in F (i.e. 32 C in F), $ in pound, miles in league, mph in speed of light, and so forth. Try it yourself to find the many different conversion possibilities.