Reputation Management & Social Media

It happens so often it seems these days. With news practically available everywhere, information can travel so fast that one minute you could be the most loved person on the planet and the most despised the next. I know they say that good news travels fast, but good gossip travels even faster. Your reputation is always on the line! While continuing to search for different ways in which we use social media to market and brand ourselves, some of my research led me to reputation management. Before the rise of social media, it was much more difficult to quickly reach a large portion of the population if something went wrong. For example, if my celebrity client had a nude picture "leak", was caught with a hooker, or was seen leaving their child in the car, the public will probably learn about the incident in seconds. However, with social media, you don't only have to rely on what the news says about the situation. You can check Twitter or Facebook to see if the person has said anything on their official page, check for videos or webcasts, or even blog posts. This sparked my interest because of the recent incidents with Charlie Sheen and Chris Brown. It is interesting to see how social media (new new media) is slowly become a major part of new media. For example, when giving updates about the situations, new media is now quick to tell the public what was said on Twitter or via webcam. So, in case you ever acquire some fame, whether short or long-term, I have the following tips for you:

#1 - If you are famous, keep your private pics to yourself!
You can't trust anyone these days. So if you are a major celebrity, they will most likely sell that to the public. Oh wait, you probably wanted it to be released to promote your next project.


#2 - Gain a strong fan base on Twitter and/or Facebook.
When everyone else is putting you down, your fans can not only make you feel better but also put positive comments out there for the public to retweet and share.

#3 - Remember that anything you put on the internet is going to stay there FOREVER!
You can issue your "Cease and Desist" to the major media outlets and blogs, but the average person doesn't care. They will continue to share it on forums, blogs, comments, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

#4 - Social Media is your friend.
When you are truly connected via social media. It gives you a voice without bias or judgement. If the news media quotes what you say, they can change the order or alter the meaning to make their news story sound better. When you are a social media freak, you can directly address the public and your fans.

#5 - Think before you DO!
If you don't know what that means, then you are a lost cause.

Think about all the ways that we can share information today, and remember that your reputation is online and therefore on the line.  Take a look cool website at The Conversation Prism. It's diagrams and charts relate directly to what we have been discussing and blogging about.