Reputation Management: The White Space

We’ve all heard stories about college graduates looking for jobs but getting “foiled” by their Internet presence.

We know that employers routinely search online for us when we’re looking for a job.

It’s generally accepted that the kind of information a prospective employer finds online can impact their willingness to offer us a job.

But I wonder if we’ve considered what people don’t find when they look for us?

I got an email this morning requesting that I register for an industry event.

A couple of the speakers looked interesting so I started to poke around.

Nothing.

These were people speaking for a relatively well-known organization whose professions were described as industry pundits and consulting professionals.

In two cases I found a LinkedIn profile, but it was sparse. It didn’t even offer a summary description.

In the third case, it was impossible for me to disambiguate the results. There was a public relations professional, a lawyer, a writer, and several others all with the same name.

When someone searches for you, what do they find?

What don’t they find?

DISCUSSION

See –
I understand the issue. It’s hard for me because I don’t have it. I put it all out there on Facebook (I’m just boring!).
However, since no one can see your profile on Facebook unless you confirm them as a friend, there is separation. It’s perfectly reasonable to either 1) ignore the request or 2) redirect them to LinkedIn (I know people that have done that).
Also, I guess on your blog the people (family, friends) that you want to have see its content know that it’s you – right? It’s just anyone that would happen by that wouldn’t know.
Is it possible to separate people into different groups on Facebook and expose different parts of your profile to them. That would be neat for those that are more reluctant than I to share.
All that being said, my original point was related to business only – these people either had no linkedin profile OR the their profile didn’t even make it clear what they did for a living. If you’re a consultant, “pundit”, etc – you have to have something out there so people understand what you do and if your services might be interesting to them.
Ann

See…
Don’t take me wrong, but what happened to the respect for someone’s personal life? When I read your ” I started a blog to document family/personal life but I don’t use my real name” I thought: didn’t we put ‘Big Brother is watching you’ fear to bed long ago?
Karin H

Knowing that it’s “all out there” how do others act like themselves online yet be sensitive to the fact that it does impact business? For example, I know my brother has tons of whitespace online b/c he simply does not want “work” to see him at “play” (I’m not talking Michael Phelps stuff here…just family photos and that kind of stuff).
I have this struggle with Facebook. I started Facebook for work. Really. I thought I’d compare FB to LinkedIn and start using social networking tools for my business. Well that changed quick as a blink but now I have the conundrum of not putting some things out there b/c I don’t want work people to read (nothing too racy or sexy, really). Now when work-related people friend me on The Book, I have to really think long and hard. I started a blog to document family/personal life but I don’t use my real name and am very sensitive to content I put in alt-tags and metadata. But it’s a struggle. It’s like I’m in 7th grade all over again.
Interested in hearing others’ thoughts.

Hi Karen!
You are so right – we are starting to expect everyone to be everywhere. That might be unrealistic – but a Google search should yield something.
This is especially true if your business is publishing and media! How can I trust that you’re up to date on industry trends if I can’t find you online (anywhere)?
The tools of the trade have changed (or at minimum been augmented).
So nice to “see” you!
Ann

Hi Ann
We hardly think about that, don’t we? We – especially those on social media networks – are starting to presume ‘everybody is out there too’.
A year ago I had a discussion with my two brothers – both in the bio-technology sector. Of them only ‘our’ youngest could be found online, as attendee and project-member of various conventions. Our ‘oldest’ became very sad 😉 he was only found on our family blog. (And it now of course on facebook)
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business – can be found online as managing director, teacher of blog-workshop, creator of blog-sites, author of a business novel and even on my ‘catch phrase’ ;-))

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