Online Reputation

BEFORE

AFTER

To begin, I know my score is a bit on the low side. Yes… I was a teenage hellion at one point.

Due to the amount of uncensored lyrics and fowl-mouthed quotes I used to post on a daily basis, my online reputation has been deeply diminished before it ever had a chance to be good.

Since taking the first snapshot of my online reputation several months ago, I have been conscience of the impact specific words and posts will hurt my reputation. Therefore, in the meantime I have cleared a majority of posts that were apparently “bad” and have been very precise on what I choose to post on my page. However, my efforts were to no avail. Unfortunately, I must have done poorly when clearing my Facebook page of “offensive” posts, according to BrandYourself. The score is not the most important aspect of finding your online reputation though. Even though my score went down, the ability to capture my attention and get me thinking about my online reputation in the first place was worth more than anything to me. Through this process I have cleaned up my profile and provided potential employer a professional, but personable, profile of the person I am and the values I stand for. Discovering my reputation online has helped me view social media in a different way because of the amount of disturbing posts I have seen on a daily basis. Making me aware of the future effects, or benefits, of what I post has allowed me to filter the information on my page, but also the information I fill my mind with. Being aware of what is seen as a “bad” post has helped me personally when scrolling through information, and not to say that I skip over everything that may have a sexual tone to it. But more so viewing more valuable information at a higher rate than before because I am conscious of what may be better information than not. Through this process, I have also been able to welcome professional individuals without having to fear what they might see or find offensive. Knowing this information is valuable because you never know who’s looking and what they will find, it may make or break a great opportunity in your future.

Clearly, the impact of my actions of cleaning up my profile had little to no effect at all. In fact, my score went down after trying to clean up my page. To be completely honest, I have no idea but I may be able to make some assumptions. For one, there were around 450 red flagged posts on my page from years ago. As any may imagine, going through that many posts from high school is as difficult as you think. Two, many posts that were flagged were flagged because of what the software thought was a red solo cup or any alcohol at all; it is easy for any type of red object or any cup can be flagged as a “bad” post. Nonetheless, the score went down and it seems my reputation online is poor.

With that  being said, the lessons learned from obtaining my online reputation far outweigh any score that can be given. The knowledge I have gained will allow me to set myself aside from several individuals in the job market.