There are many ways to keep track of you or your business online. The amount of social media monitoring and reputation monitoring companies is enormous. In many cases these companies are not cheap either with individual based services charging you $9.99-$79.99 a month where major monitoring companies for business can charge an upwards of $3,000 a month plus other large fees associated with alerts and consulting. The problem with this is that many of these companies are simply doing what free services such as IceRocket’s Big Buzz feature does for absolutely free.

In this case I decided to type in Southwest Airlines (as seen above) which has had a recent reputation problem with the movie director Kevin Smith being booted from his flight due to allegedly being too large for his seat. After being booted from the flight after everyone was already in their seats Kevin Smith was obviously mad so he decided to send out several messages on Twitter which started a potential reputation nightmare for Southwest due to the fact it has been picked up by the mainstream media.

As  you can see when you use IceRocket’s Big Buzz feature you get a feed of what is being said on Twitter, blogs, websites, as well as getting a feed of various image and video websites pertaining to the Southwest Airlines keyword. IceRocket is a real-time search engine so you will be getting updates every few minutes depending on your choices. While this may not be a solution that will do everything for you just remember that this same technology is essentially what you will be getting for a fee by nearly all social media monitoring companies with the exception of a few big players in the market. There are many other free services you can use to monitor your reputation and social media news that I will go over in the next few weeks that include Social Mention, Google Alerts, Board Reader, and more.

If keeping your personal information private and your reputation under control wasn’t already difficult enough for the average web user things just got a bit harder. Google has just recently signed a deal with both Facebook and Twitter to make your status messages and tweets syndicated throughout their search engines depending on what your messages are about. This new feature is called “Real-Time Search” which also has news mixed in from blogs and major news websites that updates by the minute. The syndication can be stopped on both Facebook and Twitter by simply making your status and messages private.

This new feature was also rolled out at the same time as Facebook’s new privacy features were enabled that will allow you to chose what exactly can be shown or not shown by choosing in your settings. If you have not already customized your settings then your profile may be viewable by anyone now including photos that were only able to be viewed by friends before as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently found out. The settings are easy and fast to change by just going to settings and then clicking privacy settings.

Another recent development from Google is their adjustments to the search engines to personalize settings depending on what subjects you like or dislike. This is yet another step towards their behavioral advertising system as the customization of search is done by placing an anonymous cookie in your browser that will track what websites you search for and choose to keep track of your interests to better target advertising towards you and also will adjust the search results to bring the results to the top that they feel would interest you the most.

Google claims the new adjustments will help provide more relevant search results but many privacy advocates disagree especially after Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt made the comment last week that “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” The remarks are pretty astonishing given the fact that Google is not shy about taking as much information as they can from you through their array of programs and companies that include Google Search, Google Analytics, Feedburner, Youtube, Google Alerts, and more. The problem with the new personalized search that is setting up their behavioral advertising is that it’s a completely opt-out program not an opt-in program meaning you will automatically be enrolled and tracked if you ever visit the website instead of having the choice to use the program that tracks you.

The only way to stop all of this personal information from being taken and syndicated is to either not use the websites at all or adjust your privacy settings available on all the settings sections of these websites and your web browser. Making all of the information private will stop it from appearing in the search engines and will also help stop stalkers, identity thieves, sexual predators, and other problems that are associated with a completely open social networking atmosphere. Like always the best way to stop a majority of the potential reputation problems online is to think twice about everything you post and say as once you put it on the internet it can easily be spread and be next to impossible to stop.

Google has come under fire recently for their blunt invasion of privacy for those using their systems. Whether you just search, use Gmail, or use numerous other tools Google may know a lot more about you than you think. Google has finally given us the much needed option to see what all they know about us and gives us the option to delete or make private these things from Google.

Having control over your personal data is a great addition and when looking at the Dashboard it is almost overwhelming everything that Google knows, from your web history and Google Talk calls to who you email the most frequent. Privacy advocates are already making their voices heard about Google limiting the number of things you can control yourself as the Google Dashboard still leaves out the major issues such as Google Maps for instance. For those interested in removing your home from google maps we have already made a post about that here on the blog.

For those avid Google users the Google Dashboard is something that you should check out and change to the settings you want as this information is not only your own personal data that should be your’s but if someone hacks into your Google account they can steal your identity fairly quick because of the large amount of information centralized into one location. So not only protect this data but also make sure you have secure passwords that are changed on a quarterly basis at the bare minimum. While changing your Google Dashboard settings this is also a good time to check out your privacy settings on other regularly used websites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and more to see what data they have and how you can change your privacy settings around to your liking.

To check out Google Dashboard follow the link provided.

Google Map’s Street View function has drawn a lot of criticism from privacy advocates and everyday citizens as anyone who has your address can see a detailed 360 degree view of your home with the ability to see different angles and even zoom in with great quality. What many people do not realize is you can have your home removed completely from view with a few quick steps.

In our industry of online reputation management and internet privacy we have handled problems with Google Street View numerous times and have recently added a few complimentary privacy services that include removal of the client’s home from Google Street View. In my opinion there is no positive to having your home so easily viewable online by potential burglars, stalkers, and predators so we have included a quick step-by-step guide to removing your home from street view.

1. Go to Google Maps.

2. Type in your home address and hit enter.

3. When a box comes up with your address you will see a picture inside the box of your home, click the box which will take you to a half or full page option to view street view. (street view is not yet available in all area’s so if there is no picture inside the box then your home is not in the street view system)

4. Once you have done this you will see a page on your screen like the one at the top of this article. The next step is to click the REPORT A PROBLEM link on the bottom left which may be hard to see since it is a light-gray to blend in with the images.

5. Once you have clicked this you will have a few options to choose from in filing a problem/complaint. On this page it asks “Why are you reporting this street view?” you will need to go to “Privacy Concerns” and next click “My House.” Next you must fill out the rest of the page describing your privacy concerns in-depth as well as providing a working email and last but most importantly line up the red square with your home to let Google know what exactly you want removed.

If you follow these instructions your home will likely be removed within weeks of your initial request but if it’s not then you must go through the steps again, also choosing the other option which is “presents security concerns” seems to speed up the process. In a world that value’s privacy less and less this is one very simple and quick way of gain some of your privacy and security back online.

A bad review is seen as a terrible thing by most businesses but in all reality if handled right it can not only be a learning experience but can become a positive.  Of course I am not saying you would rather have a negative review than a positive but too many companies with a lack of experience responding to reviews on the internet are making these negatives even worse by their response. Negative reviews should be looked at as a way to learn how to improve your business as well as a way to show customers they matter to you.

It is inevitable  if you are running a business that at some point you will receive a negative review. Seeing someone speak negatively about your product you created or sell may hurt but the first step of responding to negatives reviews is not responding at all. The first step is to step back and take a deep breath because there is nothing worse than responding to a review when your emotions are not in check. Below is our guide to handling negative reviews.

1. Read, take a deep breath, and only answer when your emotions don’t affect the message.
2. Acknowledge up-front that the customer has a point, a simple sorry will do.
3. Provide details that let the customer know you read their review, automated or canned responses to negative reviews are worse than no response at all.
4. Provide details on how you are improving or changing because of their review and what they could expect in the future.
5. Invite them back to your business or to try your services again in the future as you will continue to improve with great feedback.
6. Thank them for their feedback.
7. Provide your full name along with contact information at the bottom of the message to make yourself available.

Of course this is just a simple generic run-down of how to respond to negative reviews but every review should be approached in a slightly different way depending on the details they provide. Also not every negative review deserves a response. Reviews that do not deserve a response include those with vulgar or incendiary comments as they are subject for removal by most websites and giving a response will only provide more fuel for the fire. Knowing the terms of service and rules of websites will also come into play as many bad reviews could be from competitors and even spam bots. If they violate the terms then you can have them removed or challenge the reviewer in which they will get a response to provide information on the review and a third party will decide whether the review can stay.

In a digital business world that is becoming more and more transparent you must have contact with your consumers whether their feedback is positive or negative. Not responding and interacting is no longer an option if you want to maintain a great reputation.

In a time when jobs are tough to find there is an increasing trend of potential employers using Google as your online resume. Employers are now more than ever using various methods of searching the web to look at their potential hires on social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter as well as major search engines such as Google.

It is important that when searching for a job you first “Google Yourself” to see what pops up because many times people are surprised. There have been numerous stories of both young and old not getting jobs due to embarrassing photographs, negative writings/blog posts, PDF’s from past lawsuits/criminal complaints, and more.  Now with many job rating websites and person rating websites there can be negative information about your past jobs without your knowledge of it ever existing. Another large problem with these types of websites are that the anonymous complaints can be from random people who have a grudge against you.

The next step of course is clearing up the bad results on Google before you start your job search. The clearing up of results to create positive news can be very hard for a beginner as it takes knowledge of how complex search engines work but the best way for the average person to clear up the results would be doing maintenance first on their own websites. If you have a social networking profile or profiles then first either makes the account private so no one including search engines can view it and or remove all photos/public messages that would make your employer view you in a negative light. The next step to clean up your online reputation would be to find any other first and second page negative content that you do not control and see if there is an option to have it removed by responding to the criticisms. This works in many cases as the websites will allow those being ridiculed to respond to accusations and according to many privacy policies will remove false and malicious content (most of the time to avoid lawsuits). After all of your content is cleaned up you will have to take on a new state of mind that anything you post online will be viewed by friends, family, employers, and your enemies because more than likely it will.

In more complex situations of high profile individuals it is best to consult with a company such as ours to get experienced insight and services to assure you are seen in a positive manner.