Your Online Profile is Public Record
Eric Eggertson writes about Online Reputation Management for Students and hilariously makes his point: whatever you do online becomes public record. Thanks to Google, people looking to bring you down can evidence of your Eight-Man Beer Bong participation or that poorly-composed rambling. Not good if you’re trying to land that freelance writing job.
Deleting the offending content does help. But not if they know how to use the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and Google Cache. And who doesn’t nowadays?
The last thing you should be doing though is acting based exclusively on the reactions of others. But as my dad famously said: “You can do what you want Rico, as long as you answer to the consequences of your actions” (cue lightning). You can still have fun and be yourself. Just remember that it’s easy for people to misunderstand what you’re doing, especially if no explanation is given. And the success of your freelancing career depends greatly on the impression you give potential clients.
Tags: OnlineRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Living as a Freelancer, Useful Info
3 opinions for Your Online Profile is Public Record
Eric Eggertson
Feb 6, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Amen. It would be a very boring world if everyone avoiding doing anything interesting in case it might offend someone at some point in the future.
Craziness in moderation, I say!
Rico
Feb 7, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Haha, that’s a great phrase. Craziness in moderation indeed! :)
Contract Worker - The Importance of Reputation, According to David Ogilvy
Apr 12, 2007 at 4:06 am
[…] yourself and sticking to your moral guns. But this little anecdote is a real-life example of how your actions have consequences. In the case of Ogilvy, it was the loss of a potentially lucrative […]
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