Entries Tagged 'Online Reputation Management' ↓

Love it or hate it, MTV’s hit reality TV show Jersey Shore is a true pop culture phenomenon. A major part of the show’s success no doubt comes from the cast’s natural knack for self-promotion. Perhaps the best example of personal branding on the show comes from Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.

Anyone who has seen “The Situation” on TV knows that the young man’s greatest assets are his six-pack abs. He’s proud of them, as well he should be, and he has used them repeatedly to garner endorsement deals and a variety of other lucrative moneymaking ventures.

In his latest video blog, ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik explains how doctors, lawyers, and other professionals can learn from “The Situation” and show off their number one asset online as part of a powerful personal brand.

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In today’s Quick Hits, we discuss law enforcement and social media, follow up on the case of the Facebook-addicted juror, and look at a case of stalking on Facebook (and why Facebook isn’t helping to stop it.)

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Cops Don’t Know How To Use Twitter

A new study by the Canadian Association of Police on Social Media reveals that many law enforcement agencies and individual law enforcement officers do not understand the proper way to use social media. According to the report, “21 percent don’t tweet, nine percent tweet personal opinions about crime or criminal justice, and three percent have tweeted in a way that could be interpreted as racist or sexist.” This information demonstrates how vitally important online reputation management is to law enforcement agencies and why they need to adopt and effectively implement intelligent social media policies.

Juror Punished for Facebook Message About Trial

A Michigan woman who was removed from a jury after defense attorneys showed the judge that she had publicly commented on the trial on her Facebook profile has been fined $250 and assigned a five-page essay on the sixth amendment by the trial judge. The woman had written that it was “gonna be fun to tell the defendant they’re GUILTY” on her Facebook page before the trial was fully finished. For her part, the woman recognizes her mistake and her attorney said the outcome was “appropriate.”

Can You Break Up With Your Facebook Friends?

In her “social netiquette” column, Bridget Carey explains why it’s important to occasionally go through your Facebook friends and delete the individuals you don’t know or don’t have any significant contact with. Carey also suggests a way to spare hurt feelings if you’re thinking of deleting someone you know in real life, but don’t interact with often. Using Facebook’s privacy controls, you can move people you don’t talk to, but don’t want to delete, into a separate group set-up to limit the amount of profile information they can see.

Mother of Three Stalked Online, Facebook Won’t Intervene

The Sydney Morning Herald has the story of a mother of three who has been the victim of a vicious Facebook stalker. For the last two weeks, the stalker has harassed the woman and her children with obscene and violent language and pornographic images. The incident began when the stalker hacked into the daughter’s Facebook account and began soliciting information about the family’s home address.

The mother of three says she contacted Facebook about the harassment and they informed her that they would shut down the account. Two hours later however, Facebook said they would be unable to follow through with her request. The woman has since filed a report with the police and an investigation into the harassment is ongoing.

Twitter Announces Plans to Log All Links Clicked by Users

Twitter has announced the roll-out of a singular URL shortening device, “t.co.” This long-expected development will allow Twitter to detect malicious links more effectively and generally improve security on the site. It will also allow Twitter to track and record all links clicked by Twitter users and store that information for future internal data mining. This latter development has made some privacy advocates nervous, but as CNET’s Declan McCullagh points out, there are several simple steps Twitter can take to alleviate these concerns.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about “Bieber fever” (and its potentially dangerous side effects) as well as Google’s potential face-off with Facebook over social search technology.

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Cyberbullying, Justin Bieber, and One Ruined Reputation

Cyberbullying is a major problem for kids and teens across the United States. When you throw in the rabidness of Justin Bieber fans, the problem jumps to a whole new level. Meghan Casserly at Forbes details the story of Sydney Dalton, a teen who set the Bieber world on fire when she went on YouTube to say she was “over” the singing sensation and tore up several of his posters. Dalton, who was previously a big-time Bieber fan and well-recognized member of the fan community, immediately began receiving angry comments from Bieber fans across the world calling her a variety of names and threatening violence. The drama has died down somewhat, but the real problem is that Dalton must now face the fact that her name and reputation is attached to a massive fight over a teen singer.

Google Makes Blog Search Improvement

Google is constantly making little improvements to its search engine that don’t get a ton of press, but are still very important. For example, Read Write Web noticed a minor announcement from Google that actually is a major improvement to the company’s blog search. Previously, Google’s blog search hasn’t done the best job of showcasing the best or most authoritative blogs on any given topic. Now, with this improvement, Google is able to sort blogs by topic much more clearly, giving the company another strong tool in its search arsenal.

Facebook Offers Facebook Credit Gift Cards in Target Stores

Facebook has extended its tentacles beyond the confines of the web and into the physical world. In an announcement today, Facebook said that it will begin selling Facebook Credits gift cards in Target stores across the country. Coming in $15, $25, and $50 denominations, the cards allow the customer to purchase a wide variety of virtual goods on Facebook, including popular games such as Farmville. Facebook isn’t the only company that has been reaching outside of the world of social media. Google is also toying with selling credits in the “real world.”

Facebook Holds Potentially Important Search Patent

Google has been focused on making “social search” a reality for some time now, and the company has taken several important steps forward in that regard. With the eventual launch of Google Me, the company’s much-anticipated social networking website, Google could finally put all the pieces together for a true social search experience. Before that can happen, however, they may have to deal with Facebook, or, more specifically, a patent Facebook holds giving the company a unique claim to social search technology.

In today’s Quick Hits, we touch on NCAA social media policies, why the anti-Facebook might not take off, and why 1981 might be a cut-off for privacy expectations.

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University of North Carolina Develops Tough Social Media Policy

The University of North Carolina athletic department has implemented a strict new social media policy to prevent players from ruining their reputations and embarrassing their school online. According to ESPN, the UNC rule stipulates that “each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitor the content of team members’ social networking sites and postings.”

Op-Ed: Why Diaspora is Doomed

This op-ed from The Telegraph explains why Diaspora, the so-called anti-Facebook, might be doomed to failure. According to the author, despite Diaspora’s improved focus on privacy, there simply aren’t enough reasons for users to join another social networking site when they are already occupied with Facebook, Twitter, and other online endeavors. Quoting from the article, “There are already too many networks and services fighting for our attention. (Am I really going to log in to yet another social network to upload the photos I don’t want to share on Facebook?) And this fancy new architecture simply doesn’t matter to most people.”

Twitter Begins Using OAuth for Third-Party Authentication

Today, Twitter began using OAuth instead of basic authentication for third-party applications. Twitter’s switch to OAuth will hopefully allow for a more secure user experience and prevent users from getting tripped up by spammy third-party Twitter applications. There is a catch though. With OAuth, third-party applications will not be asking you for your password but that still doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise caution about which applications you approve. Always remember that once you approve a third-party app, you give it total control over your Twitter account.

Teens Log Off from Facebook Because of Parents

This article from CBS News touches on the growing trend of parents following their children on Facebook. Rather than framing this as a good thing that could help parents remain involved in their kids lives, the focus of the article is on how college-aged Facebook users are rejecting their parents and, by default, rejecting Facebook because of the perceived “intrusion” into their lives.

Loopt CEO Says Privacy Expectations Change For People Born After 1981

In a recent article for the New York Times, Loopt CEO Sam Altman said that “the magic age…where we see a big change in privacy settings and user acceptance” is people born in 1981. According to Altman, the difference in user acceptance between those born before 1981 and those born after 1981 explains why the location-based social networking services haven’t taken off to the same extent as other social media technologies.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about why you shouldn’t use Facebook while you’re in a jury, how geo-location services could be the next big thing, and what a free market economist thinks of privacy regulations.

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Juror Removed from Trial Over Facebook Post

A Detroit-area judge removed a juror from a trial after defense attorneys pointed out a comment on the woman’s Facebook wall claiming that the defendant was guilty before the end of the trial. The woman wrote that it was “gonna be fun to tell the defendant they’re guilty.” The offending remark was discovered by the defense attorney’s son who works in his mother’s law office. He was doing Google searches for the members of the jury pool. It is possible that the juror may be found guilty of contempt of court for her actions.

Facebook Tied to Narcissism in Small Psychological Study

Mashable recently reported the results of a small survey of 100 college students, which showed that “young people with narcissistic personality traits were shown to exhibit Facebook activity that was distinctly more self-promotional.” The study specifically cited “About Me” sections that referred to the individual’s intelligence and photos that “were more about displaying the user’s physical attractiveness than about capturing memories with friends.” Given the subjectiveness of these qualifications, it would be a stretch to say that Facebook is for narcissists, but there are some interesting correlations.

Services Help People Disconnect from Social Media

If social media has taught us anything, it’s that people like being connected. But not everyone wants to be connected 24/7. That’s why a number of services have popped up in recent months that allow social media users to mute, block, or manage their Twitter followers and Facebook friends. This article from the Washington Post highlights some of the most popular of these services.

Geo-Location Services Still Await Wide Adoption

With the emergence of Facebook Places, geo-location services looks like they’re set to become the next big thing in social networking. They’re not there yet though. According to Forrester Research, “4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and 1 percent use them weekly.” This article from the New York Times discusses some of the obstacles faced by geo-location services, chief among them being the issue of privacy.

Paul Rubin: Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Paul Rubin, an Economics professor from Emory University, discusses “Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy.” Rubin approaches the subject from a free market perspective, arguing that overly stringent privacy regulations are a detriment to the economy and hurt consumers. It is an argument that we have heard before, and we don’t entirely agree with, but Rubin argues his points well and the op-ed is definitely worth reading.