WebRev Blog

When I was in school, I remember being told by advertising experts that "any publicity is good publicity."  Perhaps in some industries, this is (or was) true. I remember Jerry Falwell galvanized what he referred to as the "moral majority," primarily by making statements that drew negative attention from the press, and some politicians and political pundits still seem to live by this principle.

Those not involved in social movements or politics, however, might want to re-think this old adage in the age of the internet - where good and bad publicity really never dies, thanks to the search engine caches.

Apple is gaining a lot of publicity right now because a few of their latest creations have been alleged to overheat (this is denied by Apple) and spontaneously combusting.  News of a few Chevrolet Volt fires hasn't exactly been good for sales, and will we ever forget Toyota's brake problems? The internet won't - long after all of  these isolated "glitches" have been resolved.

When people are thinking of making a significant purchase, they tend to Google the product to see what people are saying.  If the search engine results return a lot of bad publicity, it is likely the customers will keep shopping - fair or not.  Recently a local young woman was in a dispute with her former mother-in-law.  When the young woman was not where she was expected to be for a visitation appointment, the mother-in-law used her influence with local law enforcement authorities, and managed to have an Amber Alert placed on the mother.  The mother and children were soon "found," perhaps because they weren't hiding, but that young mother may have a bit of explaining to do each and every time she applies for a job or considers dating someone....perhaps for the rest of her life.  Amber Alerts rank pretty highly on the search engines, and when anyone enters her name into the search engines, they are likely to see her name, her photo, and her children's names and photos before they really see anything else.  I'm sure this isn't the type of attention she was wanting.

So what does this mean for your website and your blog?  Some folks still think that generating a little controversy is a good way to attract free media attention, or internet publicity.  Maybe this will work, but it could "blow up" on them in the wrong way.  Remember, whatever happens online will not just be on the six o'clock news, then be forgotten.  What happens on the internet truly does stay on the internet - forever.  Make sure it's something you're still going to be proud to read a few years from now.

Mashable had a great post over the weekend, listing the factors that make a tweet credible, according to researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University.  The data seems to confirm what we discussed  last week pertaining to networking and reciprocation, regarding the idea that there is a trend away from "following" or subscribing to a bunch of people online just to grow a network.  According to this study, this practice can actually be a detriment to perceived credibility, at least according to this study.

So what does work?

According to this same study, it appears some of the old-fashioned methods of gaining credibility may be seen as more valuable, especially in their fancy new "new media" clothes.  

At the top of the list of items which increase one's perceived credibility online are peer review and demonstrating that you are a subject matter expert in your field, along with backing your data with credible references.  These concepts have always been important in the fields of academia, literature, science, and journalism - whether in print or online.  Increasingly, they are finding their place into new media, and (at least indirectly) into the search engines, which are an important lifeline for young researchers.

Which brings us back to your website, your blog, and your social networks?  How can you increase your online credibility? 

1) Network with other industry experts.  Link to their quality content when it makes sense to do so.

2) Establish yourself as an expert in your industry by being the go-to place in your market niche.

3) Make sure the sources you link to are high-quality credible ones.

4) Be current in your delivery, but make sure your grammar is correct and your graphics are professional

What are the ways the people you follow online convinced you that they are credible?

Those who have been reading my posts on the WebRev blog for a long time know I seldom use exclamation points in my titles.  But today is an exception, because I'm pretty excited about this new little toy I've found. 

No, I don't even get paid to endorse this product.  I wish I did, because I think it's going to be a pretty big deal.

We talk a lot here on WebRev about protecting and monitoring your online reputation.  Mashable did a post this weekend about How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates, explaining that according to a survey done by Reppler.com, the majority of recruiters surveyed looked at Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIN to screen out potential job applicants before they even called them in for an interview.  These interviewers were looking for things like poor communication skills, inappropriate behavior, and discrepancies between information given on the resume, and information given on social networking profiles in regard to job qualifications and experience (Infographic HERE).

So, I clicked on the link to Reppler.com, and was amazed at the information I was able to get about my online profile for free.  I did let them check my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN profiles, and felt the results were accurate based on what I have (and have not) been posting recently to those profiles.  You can sign up for e-mail updates daily, weekly or monthly.  I would recommend daily if currently seeking employment, and less frequently if not.  You can receive alerts about security and privacy "red flags," (e.g. if an app you've posted to your wall is known to have security risks), or "inappropriate content," (e.g. if a friend posts a link containing offensive language to your wall).  My overview is the first image shown above as an example.

The drop-down under "My Networks," is very interesting, and shows how many of your friends overlap between the social networking sites, how many are on each one, and what types of content they've been posting. The "My Impression" drop-down is the most informative, giving a tag cloud of your most-used words, a graph of your "likes," and suggestions for improving your online image. I've posted a screen shot of part of mine above as an example.

This is a very interesting and useful site - check it out!

We've cautioned many times here on the WebRev blog that an important part of protecting your digital reputation is being careful what you put online that could be viewed and perhaps judged disproportionally and out of context by potential clients or employers for many years in the future.

While that is sound advice, perhaps there are exceptions to the rule?  Increasingly, people are using the web to air their grievances online, and the lesson we might learn from them might be that if you really MUST do this, be sure to explain exactly what your said grievances are, and express your dissatisfaction in a clear, concise, and BIG way.  At least maybe you'll get points for humor, and creativity. 

Probably the most famous person to do this so far this century is Steven Slater, the former JetBlue Flight attendant, who just finally snapped in frustration of dealing with disrespectful passengers, flew into a rage, and quit by sliding down the emergency chute.  He then became a bit of a celebrity on Facebook (with nearly 200K followers) and in the media.  His story is on the Mail Online, and Wikipedia.  Fortunately, Mr. Slater accumulated a sufficient 401K during his career to live on for the time being, and is able to forego the job search while he is dealing with drug addiction and serious health issues...and his new rap career.

Mashable reported this week on a young man named Joey DeFrancesco was apparently tired of what he felt was mistreatment by his hotel employer, and quit his job - but he didn't make it all about himself.  He managed to get some publicity for his friends who have a brass band, by allowing them to provide the fanfare for his termination announcement - a move which has resulted in over 1.6M hits to the YouTube video so far.  Hopefully, the band will reciprocate by allowing Joey to be their manager...or bell hop, or something.  Or maybe he'll be able to find an employer with a really good sense of humor.

In the same post, Mashable pointed out that Joey's expose of his employer could potentially overtake the popularity of the video the folk band, "Sons of Maxwell," made after becoming upset at United Airlines for (reportedly) breaking one of their Taylor guitars (at the top of this post).  This video has nearly 12M hits on YouTube.  Unfortunately,  this particular attempt to revive a career may have been a spectacular career-ender for unknown reasons (see Wikipedia).  So maybe this one is a lesson in what NOT to do.  Maybe all of these are, after all.

Of course if you ever do manage to get yourself fired, the best defense is to claim that you were just too good looking for the establishment.

With all of the public attention surrounding Twitter in the last couple of weeks, President Obama's 2012 campaign staff has decided this is an excellent time for the President of the United States (the leader of the free world) to jump in and start Tweeting (@BarackObama). I have no idea why, but this seems to be the same staff who created the "Win the Future," (aka "WTF"), slogan for our esteemed leader. 

Sigh.

I never thought I would miss "hope and change," but considering there will be about a gazillion people re-tweeting everything the President tweets (according to his profile, his tweets will be signed "-BO." Yes, same campaign staff.), get ready for the hashtage "#WTF" to be a trending topic on Twitter for the next two years.

So, as long as he's determined to do this thing, what does President Obama need to remember before he tweets, to help prevent the type of media PR disasters we've seen lately?

1) He should keep his private life private.  So far, the Obamas have been good about not embarassing the country in regard to their personal lives (and we thank them for that). If there are any indiscretions or scandals, we haven't heard about them, and that's how it should be.  But beyond this, however, President Obama needs to remember that there is no such thing as "privacy" on a social network; he should avoid any "open mic" styled gaffes on Twitter.

2) He needs to avoid discussing other job prospects. Hopefully, he learned his lesson about that last week.

3) He needs to make sure his "location" settings are off.  This can be done by signing in to Twitter, going to "settings," then "acccount," and un-checking the location box.  Right below that, you can delete all location information from past tweets.  The last thing we need is a national security incident via Twitter.

Can you think of anything else the President needs to remember about Tweeting?

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

In case you were just thinking, "You know, I need one more place to post all of my information online, and one more log-in I.D. to remember," well About.me has a solution for you!

Actually, in spite of my sarcasm, I think this particular social-network integrator has potential.  It's super user-friendly, and allows you to post all of your social networks and other web links in one place. This service is a really good alternative to a blog for those who don't actually want to blog, as it provides what it calls a "splash page," for all of your social networks and online links, including an e-mail address.

This might be a good alternative to an e-profile for those who are job hunting, as you can easily link to your Linked-IN profile, and/or wherever you have your resume posted, as well as any other online profiles you would like your prospective employers to see.  The style is clean and slightly trendy, projecting a very professional image for those who want to demonstrate their technology skills are up-to-date.

Once you sign in you can hit the little "people" icon at the top, and browse other users' splash pages for inspiration on setting up your own.  Because you're able to customize the background, fonts,  and profile picture, your page can be as clean or as fancy as you like.  HERE are some examples on Google Images.

Time will tell if these about.me profiles begin helping users with page rank on the search engines.  Right now, there is an option to "promote" your profile to Google, but after considerable searching, I'm not yet able to find evidence that these profiles are showing up on the front page of the SERPs (search engine results pages).   However, this site has some promise, and if these profiles get more popular, it could be that they will eventually gain page rank, especially under the search term "about (name)".

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking.