Reputation - Online Reputation

Online Reputation

See also : Reputation system, Reputation management and Online identity

Online reputation is a factor in any online community where trust is important. It affects a pseudonym rather than a person. Examples include eBay, an auction service which uses a system of customer feedback to publicly rate each member's reputation. Amazon.com has a similar reputation mechanism in place and merchants develop their reputations across different dimensions. One study found that a good reputation added 7.6% to the price received. In addition, building and maintaining a good reputation can be a significant motivation for contributing to online communities.

To begin developing an online reputation, consider how your personal or company brand should be perceived. What is your brand identity / what is your value proposition / selling point / unique voice? Once you have developed the image you would like your constituencies to perceive, develop a strategy to build your brand. Are you seeking credibility in the marketplace (consider blogging, answering questions on LinkedIn), gain market leadership (create innovative tools for your industry) or connection (build a network of contacts in professional and/or social sites).

Once you have begun developing an online reputation it is important to try and protect it. One strategy that many people employ to ensure that they keep up with their online reputation is monitoring. Given the number of sites on the internet, it is impossible to try and manually monitor the entire internet for pages that may affect your online reputation. Tools such as Radian 6, SocialMention, Veooz and Google Alerts can help you to keep tabs on your online reputation

Another way to look at online reputation is how well it's being managed. This form of reputation is usually called web or digital reputation to distinguish it from the online reputation. Indeed, Digital or Web reputation does not concern the virtual on-line reputation only, but the whole real reputation of a person or a company as it is affected by the Web. Nearly seven out of 10 global business executives see their reputations online as vulnerable. This high estimate reflects executive anxiety over reputation erosion in a fiercely competitive and unpredictable business environment.

An online reputation is the perception that one generates on the Internet based on their digital footprint. Digital footprints accumulate through all of the content shared, feedback provided and information that created online. People aspire to have a positive online reputation. If someone has a bad online reputation, he can easily change his pseudonym. This is why new accounts on eBay or Amazon are usually distrusted. If a person or a company wants to manage his web reputation, he will have many more difficulties. This is why a merchant on the web having a physical shop (with real name, real address) is usually more trusted.

The greatest reputation threat online to companies is negative media coverage (84% say so). The next two greatest threats are customer complaints in the media or on grievance sites online (71%) and negative word of mouth (54%). This negative word of mouth could be from dissatisfied customers but from employees as well. Leaders also worry about confidential leaks which seem to be growing at a rapid pace online.

Employers have begun using the online reputations of job applicants to help their hiring choices. By checking on your social networking profiles on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, employers gain insight into how they believe you will fit into their business.

Some unscrupulous individuals have hired reputation management companies to attempt to hide truthful but unflattering information about themselves. A recent alleged example is that of Dr. Anil Potti, who resigned in disgrace from Duke University after it was discovered that he had misrepresented himself on his resume and became the subject of a scientific misconduct investigation.