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REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
REPUTATION
Social media can be a useful tool for keeping in contact with friends and family. It can
enable young people to create their own space, express their personality and market
themselves to the world. This can help them to formulate their sense of identity. However,
young people have to be aware of what information is shared and with whom.
The images and information posted on social networking sites can define or damage
your online reputation. Employers may use social networking sites to ‘research’ job
candidates. This may not affect young people now, but the content they post on the
internet today could damage their future job prospects.
Taking simple precautions to secure social networking profiles and what is posted can
ensure any private and personal information shared is protected.
TIPS FOR PROTECTING YOUR (ONLINE) REPUTATION
1. Encourage your child to think before they post—take two seconds to pause and
reflect on what they are posting and how it could affect them and others, now and
in the future.
2. Suggest your child regularly searches themselves online, and do the same
yourself. You can use normal search engines such as Google and Bing, or meta
search engines such as www.pipl.com and www.dogpile.
com which search multiple databases at once. Also search
for usernames, email addresses and gaming handles.
3. Encourage your child to discuss with their friends what
material they are sharing about them and others.
4. Make sure your child’s profile is set to private. This
allows some control over who can see the images and
status updates they may post.
Don’t forget—what goes online stays online!