In a few weeks I'll be doing a presentation on social media and public relations for the Philadelphia Black Public Relations Society, so this video via Escape from Cubicle Nation is very timely. It's from  Gary Vaynerchuck who argues that in the transparent world of Web 2.0 it will be impossible to have multiple identities. "You are who you are online," he says. No more can you be "one person for the chicks" and another person for your business associates. His conclusion? The "forces of good" can now win, because the best people will rise to the top, their actions and quality of work apparent to all.

That's a really powerful idea for both organizations and individuals. It's also a dangerous one if you aren't  careful. You have to be on top of your game because if you aren't, then people will know it. You have to keep learning, because if you don't, your outdated skills will show. That's not to say that you can't screw up, but if you do, then you won't be able to hide. It will be out there for people to see, so  you'll have to acknowledge and deal with what you've done. How you address mistakes will then become part of that public record too.

Monitoring and managing your online reputation becomes a critical success skill for both individuals and organizations in a global trust economy. In case you don't believe it, check out this survey. And don't forget The Transparent CEO.  So how do you do this? Below are some resources to get you started.

Tools and Resources for Monitoring and Managing Your Online Reputation

• How to Manage Your Online Reputation--Some tools from Read/Write Web.

• Step-by-Step Guide to Monitoring Feeds for Reputation Management--Another reason why having a feed reader and a process for managing your feeds is so important.

• 5 Feeds We Monitor for Clients--You can set up the same feeds for yourself or your organization.

• 34 Online Reputation Management Tools--from Duct Tape Marketing

• 8 Types of Reputation Management Issues--Written for organizations, but many impact individuals, too, like negative social network groups and negative forum feedback.

• Manage Your Online Reputation--a nice "how to" from Lifehacker.

• Not Just Your Space: The College Student's Guide to Managing Your Online Reputation (PDF)--from Naymz, one of the reputation management tools mentioned in the Read/Write Web article above. Although written for students, there's some good stuff here for the rest of us.

• How to Clean Up Your Online Reputation--So there's some not-so-flattering info coming up on Google. Now what?

• 7 Cheap Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation--no need to pay someone else.

• Ten Tactics That Could Save Your Online Reputation--from Mashable.

I'd love to hear from you about your favorite reputation resources and your thoughts on Gary's assertion that you can't have multiple personas in a Web 2.0 world.
 

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