Reputation

How can you not laugh at this? Well, I guess you could not have been listening to hip hop in 1990... that would make the above photo a stop sign with graffiti.

In other news, I've been giving a fair amount of thought to my online reputation. "Reputation" is a critical feature of the work I do. While public relations is essentially story telling with purpose (more to it than that, but that's not what this post is about), at its core is an understanding that the reputation of a person, organization or idea is a powerful and valuable part of that person, organization or idea.

Your reputation is developed over time by what you do and what you say. It is measured by how people think about you. And sometimes your ideal reputation is not your actual one. For clients, that's often where I come in. You see, if you can identify how you want to be seen, you can take very specific actions to bridge the gap between your ideal and your actual reputation. And for those who worry that sounds a bit too Orwellian, it takes words and actions to get there.

Our reputations are typically produced in the public sphere. If you're doing something and others can witness it, your reputation is being formed. Furthermore, as those people talk to other people about you, your reputation is at their mercy.

But enough of the lecture.

The online world is essentially one massive public sphere. And while that may be obvious to some, it is easily forgotten... and to others: never realized.

Which brings me to my point: over the past 15 years, I've been building my reputation online. And up until five years ago, I didn't realize it.

Every photo, article, video, news release, blog post, tweet, podcast appearance, CRTC intervention... it's all there creating an image of Daorcey. It's my reputation for those who know me and those who don't.

Should I be worried? Possibly.

Because the next part is about realizing what that reputation is. What have I created for myself? Based on what you can find online about me, here are a few attributes:

• Goofy
• Thoughtful
• Unthinking
• Critical
• Amusing
  
• Self absorbed
• Volunteer
  
• Panda-eater
• Gun-toter
• Traveler
• Sap
• Jerk
  
• Geek / Uber-Geek
• Cynic
• Party-er
• Stick-in-the-mud
• Manipulator
  
• Soulless
  
• Gamer
• Reader
• Flack
  
• Writer

While that might not be all... it's enough. Clearly, some I'd like to keep and some I'd like to throw far, far away.

It's hard to wipe some of the stuff off the net. Sure, a few photos on Facebook can be untagged, but I can't ask the National Post to remove that editor's blog entry that calls me out for being PR support for a client (nor, can I have them remove the comment from a paranoid reader that suggests I'm part of a much larger conspiracy).

I've realized that all I can do now is be as vigilant as possible as I continue to have this very public online presence. Yes, keep it honest. But also keep it within the realm of that reputation I'd like to cultivate.

Blogging? Don't vent about the stupidity of... (fill in the blank here because as soon as I type in something like "colleague" all my coworkers will want to kick me in the junk)

Tweeting? Don't tweet about what you ate for breakfast, unless, of course, breakfast is a key feature of your identity. Then, by all means, give me the rundown.

MySpace updating? Don't update your closest friends about that new, secret client project. Even if you're just talking about "Project Gold Father" it will bite you in the ass.

Facebooking? Don't call it Facebooking... you'll just sound like a n00b who thinks the internets are made tubes and facebooks are like scrapbooks but with more faces.

In the last year, every time I go to write something in the online realm, I think twice (sometimes more than twice) about the long-term ramifications of my words. In many cases, they're there for good and even if you can delete a misstep, a phrase uttered can never be truly recovered.

(Don't get me started on Outlook's "recall" feature... what a stupid feature... I'm comfortable saying right now that should you ever send me a "recall" email following your original email, I will judge you... I will judge you harshly.)

So, here I am armed with my knowledge of online reputations and it has brought me to this point: self censorship. I guess I don't really mind. I am shaping my reputation after all.

And, I'm not exactly sanitizing my whole life. At this point, I'm comfortable with the complexity of reputation I have for myself. So, for now, I'm not scrubbing the internet of my dumb theatre "citicisms" from university. Nor am I deleting the photos of me in various Star Wars uniforms. Sure, maybe somewhere out there someone really hates me because of the online reputation I have. But for now, I'll stick with what I've got.