Yesterday, I discussed reputation monitoring but today, I’m moving on to reputation management. In this post, I’ll give you the tools to go on the offense if you find you’re being target by an individual or group looking to harm your business. This post goes a little beyond social media and deals with general online harassment but I still believe it’s something authors need to know. I hope these posts will empower you to take control of your online image and grow your publishing business with confidence.
P.S. I am in no way affiliated with the products and services mentioned in this post.
Reputation Management
Did you know that there is an entire industry built around managing online reputations? There are quite a few services that work with individuals to help them either deal with a crisis or monitor the internet for any negative press.
Unlike reputation monitoring, a reputation management service influences and controls a person’s or business’ public identity. They scan the internet using special software or just use Google, then start a campaign against anything that can be considered damaging to their clients. For example, actor Charlie Sheen, allegedly paid a fixer (A PR manager who specializes in crisis management), to scour the internet for anything that pertained to him having HIV years before his public confession in 2015. Later on I’ll discuss some services that can help you with an online crisis but right now let’s explore the dark side of the internet.
Worst Case Scenario: You’re Being Attacked
Okay, let’s pretend that someone is actively campaigning to make your life hell, what can you do about it? Well let’s figure out how bad things on the internet can get first:
#1: Doxxing (Info Dumping)
This includes publically announcing anything such as bank account, social security (e.g. national identity numbers), and credit card numbers. If you find that your personal information is being shared online there are ways to get it taken down by contacting the owner of a given site and request they remove the info. If your info is dumped on social media you can report the post or contact the site directly and request it be removed. Most will comply since they don’t want to face any lawsuits nor do they want their website’s rank to be demoted in the search engines. If this is a website and there is no contact information you may have to resort to contacting the hosting company of the website. You do that by Googling the words: WHOIS and the website’s URL. If you can’t find the name of the owner, you will most likely find the host company. Feel free to shoot off an email to them requesting the removal of the content.
Now let’s say you’ve completed these steps and the information is still appearing in search results, even days after the content was taken down. Did you know you can request that companies such as Google and Bing take it down from their search engine? Below is a list on where to find that information:
*More Useful Tips*
Information like your address, phone number, and names of your family members are freely available online on sites such as; FamilyTreeNow.com as well as Spokeo and the search engines like Google and Bing can do very little about that. Data is a big business and many times it’s being scraped by various corporations you’re doing business with such as credit card companies, social media sites, and retailers so it’s nearly impossible to remove those things completely from the internet. If you really want to find out how much of your data is floating around in cyberspace just Google your name as well as your city then see what pops up. Fortunately, most sites allow you to request the removal of information but you do have to contact them directly or fill out forms.
If you don’t want to spend time doing all that, there are services like DeleteMe, and OneRep that will go to these sites and fill out all the paperwork for you, however, they do charge a fee. Also, keep in mind, they can’t rid the internet 100% of your data.
Now that’s just the tip of the iceberg once your information is out there, you are at risk of identity theft. There are companies that will monitor your social security number and monitor your credit line for a fee such as LifeLock or IdentityForce and they will even provide you with legal consultation if your personal information is ever compromised.
#2: Harassment
Harassment can include such things as ordering 100 pizzas in your name and sending it to your house or someone making insulting or inappropriate comments. However, that’s small stuff, because cyberstalking is considered the most serious form of online harassment and it includes someone who is always making contact with you even despite your protest. That means making comments on your social media posts even after you’ve blocked them. (Lots of stalkers just create another account and proceed with their harassment.) Stalking is considered serious because the harassment can wind up offline. Case in point, several years ago, there was an author that admitted to stalking a book reviewer who gave an unfavorable review on Goodreads.
Important Tip: If you find online harassment going offline, you must document it and take that evidence and contact your local law enforcement in order to file a report.
#3: Reputation Damage
There have been many cases of people being defamed online and if someone is campaigning online to damage your reputation you may need to go on the offense and start countering the damage. You can use the internet the same way a troll does by drowning out their content with your own by doing interviews on blogs, podcasts and even do guest posts for major websites. Sounds an awful lot like marketing, doesn’t it? Anyway, this won’t cost you any money but it does cost time. However, if you are too busy and don’t have time, you can hire a service to do this for you. Like celebrities, you can hire a firm to wage war against the reputation damage. It’s costly, which is why many people don’t bother with it but if you’re determined to fight, there are services like ReputationDefender and BrandYourself that will help by posting positive articles and even build websites that will help you reclaim your reputation online.
#4: Hacking Websites, Social Media & Email Accounts
It’s not rare to hear of a celebrity’s phone or social media accounts being hacked. Most of the time these types of hackings include posting gibberish or pornographic material to the victim’s account, it’s rarely personal. In fact, the terrorist organization ISIS (ISOL) was targeted in 2016, by the hacker group Anonymous, who posted gay pride images on the terrorists’ Twitter accounts. They (Anonymous) are also engaging in information doxxing by collecting financial records of terror groups and giving them to various governments around the world. This is a clear example that no one is safe from hacking not even terrorists.
So how do you protect yourself from a hacker? Well having a strong password is a start, which means a password that includes numbers, symbols as well as upper and lowercase letters. For example, it’s a bad idea to use your initials and address because that’s too obvious, that information can be found online as I said before. However, something like your nickname, plus your kid’s school bus number, and a random symbol make for a pretty strong password. Even short phrases like: ItIsWhatItIs2019$ is stronger than your pet’s name and address.
Also, don’t forget to change your passwords often because when you’re under attack, security should be your first priority.
A Balanced View
I hope this post empowered you to pursue social media without fear, after all, there are over 3 billion people using social media worldwide. This is expected to grow as the internet becomes globally accessible. And as more people use social media, the drama will become more common but we authors don’t have to be sucked into the dysfunction. We can handle ourselves with confidence even when the waters of social media are churning all around us. I hope you never have to use any of this advice or experience any of the scenarios I discussed but if you do, you now have the tools to fight back and take control of your online reputation.
