For most people, their personal reputation means the difference between success and, well, failure in life.
Up until recently (say the past 10 years), we exercised a fair amount of control over our personal branding.
We shared only what we chose to share.
We were a one-person public relations firm revering our triumphs, while spinning our disappointments if not to protect our reputations, than certainly to shelter our egos.
Enter the dawn of social media...
and with it an evident shift in the balance of power in personal branding - away from the individual and to the denizens of the digital world.
So, what's a person to do? Well, in my opinion there's only one thing you CAN do.
Your friends, family, colleagues, ex's (and maybe even people you've never met) are going to dish about you - like it or not.
Coupled with the fact that social media is not going away any time soon, your only option is to embrace your collective personal diary.
Regardless of how awesome you are, there are people who will air unkind things about you on the Internet (shocking, I know).
You can't prevent it, so why try? Sure, you could slap a lawsuit on someone, but since there are few precedents it's anybody's guess what the outcome would be.
One thing is for sure, though.
It'll cost you some serious coin and a lot of time and aggravation.
Ok, so what can you do? The best defense is a strong offense.
Be proactive by having a strategy for shaping your digital persona.
First and foremost this involves a plan for regularly monitoring chatter about you on the Web.
There are several ways to do this, from keeping regular tabs on your Facebook and MySpace accounts, to periodically conducting a Google search on yourself, to more technologically sophisticated approaches such as social media monitoring services.
Next, one of the best ways to counter others' opinions about you (assuming you want to counter them) is to do a bit of self promotion using social media - fight fire with fire.
In addition, if a site has the capability to comment on another's opinion, take advantage of the feature to tell your side of the story.
In the dating world there are sites which seek to provide balanced feedback about singles, and offer daters the option to respond to others' comments.
Lastly, the best way to combat unflattering gossip about you is to first figure out the root cause (e.
g.
, Is it a bitter ex that needs his/her ego repaired? Is it an employee you had to let go last year and is still in the anger stage?) and then to try to address it.
In the end, you may not be successful eradicating the harsh words, but perhaps you can prevent future attacks.
A fight against social media is a Herculean effort at which you're unlikely to succeed.
Therefore, your best course of action is to embrace it, warts and all, as a way to get candid feedback about how well you date, how good of a friend you are, or the quality of your work.
If you need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on, shoot me a message and I'll help you cope.
It used to be that one's personal reputation mirrored the deeds - good and bad - of the individual.
Today, not so much.
While access to social media has allowed us to better broadcast everything from our achievements to what we ate for breakfast, it has also opened the flood gates for others - even strangers - to chime in on who we are, what we do, and how we behave.
When you consider the number and reach of social networks available, the potential damage that can be done to our personal reputations by others with (or even without) an ax to grind is mind boggling.
From Facebook to LinkedIn, Unvarnished to Duedil the range of venues for promoting and maligning others is staggering.
The growth of reputation-based sites has been so significant it's even given rise to a new movement known as "online reputation management".
All this is to say is that it serves everyone well to regularly monitor what's being said about them in the digital world.