Managing brand web

The more my personal and professional life goes up on the web, the more I find myself thinking about my virtual brand. Thanks to Facebook friend requests, LinkedIn connections and recommendations, and comments on blogs, we often become microcelebrities to people we might only have a loose connection to, if any connection at all, but who could end up hurting our brand.

 

One of the guys I went to high school with sent me a Facebook friend request but I didn’t accept it because his profile picture was, shall we say, totally inappropriate. I decided not to add him (sorry Todd). But what if someone in my group changes their profile picture or personal information tomorrow to something that could be offensive to people? Is that something I want to chance? If they’re a friend on Facebook or MySpace, am I giving them my implied endorsement? And if I am, how will the questionable things they do reflect on me? As it stands, I don’t spend a lot of time monitoring my virtual friends, but I do try to keep an eye on it.

 

I hate to admit it, but I actually had to ask a fellow blogger whether I should approve a comment on one of my recent blog posts. I’m still relatively new to blogging so maybe I’m just being a bit overly cautious. After all, the comment seemed innocent enough. Something like “I really liked your recent post.” Awwww. Did she really mean it? How can I tell? I checked out her blog and she had to be legitimate. I mean, she did have, as my friend put it, “A fancy GlamourShot” headshot. I’m smart enough to recognize and delete the blatant spam comments, but this one seemed like it could have been legitimate. After mulling it over with my blogging mentor (unofficial title of course) Eric of Boggs Blog fame, I decided to delete her comment. When linking to or approving comments from other blogs, it’s important to be selective. Click around. Get a feel for the entirety of their work. After all, you are sending people their way and they’re sending people to you.

 

When it comes to our online brand, more is definitely better–more friends, more recommendations, more groups, more photos, more everything. And with that, comes more exposure and risk. As you put yourself out there on the web, think about the people you associate with and recommend. After all, your online brand should be an extension of, and complement, your personal brand. That means no pictures of keg stands or hot tub parties, and no otherwise questionable content.