Earlier this year, I spent a great deal of time explaining my theory on the Social Media Credit Score concept and how our actions on the internet could begin are influencing other parts of our life. The overall idea behind the SMCS is that people should be careful of what they post and manage what others post about them on the internet. Whether or not you like it, every mention of your name (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) has become part of your “real life” and others are taking notice.
In December of 2009, as part of Microsoft Data Privacy Day, research commissioned by Microsoft found that 79 percent of United States hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants. Interviews with over 1,200 hiring and recruitment managers and 1,200 consumers lead to the publication of Online Reputation in a Connected World and revealed some sobering statistics/facts.
- 70% of professionals surveyed have rejected candidates based on information they found online.
- 85% say that positive online reputation influences their hiring decision to some extent, while nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their decisions to a great extent.
- 30-35% of consumers surveyed don’t feel their online reputation affects their professional life and take no steps in managing their online reputation.
Potential employers are looking at your SMCS (online reputation) and the only way to make sure that it doesn’t work against you is to make sure that it works for you.
What Now?
If you have made it this far, two things are certain. One, you understand the impact and potential danger of a bad SMCS. Two, you are willing to do something about it. So what do you do now? Until recently, there was no information on managing your online reputation. Now different ideas are surfacing and you (the trailblazers in this new land) will have to research, research, research! Luckily, we have some ideas to help you get started:
- Read the report Online Reputation in a Connected World – this will help familiarize you with what employers are looking at.
- Read Microsoft’s article Take Charge of Your Online Reputation
- Read the JumpstartMyPC.com article Social Media Credit Score Tools and Tricks
- Do a little research on your own, using Google and/or other search engines. – see what’s new in online reputation management.
- Develop a game plan of how you are going to “clean up” you SMCS and/or prevent future issues.
- Start creating your own positive online identity in a blog or personal web site.
What Next?
Managing your Social Media Credit Score or online reputation is not a one-time process. You will need to continually review the web for changes and recent posts. As the internet changes and more social tools come into play, the importance of monitoring your rep will increase.
