Cyberbullying – Not Just for Children!

According to Wikipedia, Cyberstalkers (cyberbullies/cyberharrasers) “threaten a victim’s earnings, employment, reputation and/or safety using things like Weblogs, industry forums or boards and commercial Web sites.

One of the ways you can protect yourself online is to be active on social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.  If you use these tools to build your reputation, to help those in need and show that you genuinely care about others, people will soon begin to trust and depend on you.  Then, if someone tries to blacken your reputation or write untrue stories about you, your friends and contacts can leap to your defense.

Another way is to add yourself to people search and reputation management tools, such as www.yasni.ca .
This new tool, launched in 2008, states “So many people are unaware of what personal information is actually available on the Internet, and Yasni offers a fun and exciting way of keeping track of your own and others online reputation.”.

By searching for your profile online, you can see what type of content leads directly to you that people might be using in their efforts to harass you.

Manage your online reputation

It is not always easy searching for a job on the internet. Inaccurate information in your curriculum vitae can be easily checked on the internet and, therefore, damage your career. It is well-known that companies search for appropriate candidates and check their appearance on the internet. Thus, a professional presentation on the internet is essential, if you want to make progress with your job search. In this context, Yasni offers its free Exposé and Exposé Promotion. Because nowadays nobody and nothing is private any longer, everyone should actively manage one’s own online reputation by oneself. Otherwise, it could have negative effects. Whoever cannot provide a professional online presentation or even cannot be found on the internet possibly won’t be able to find a job in the future anymore.

Therefore, Yasni supports the opinion that an applicant should actively represent oneself on the internet including all strengths, interests and expert knowledge. Hence, Yasni offers its free Exposé and Exposé Promotion, as already mentioned above. One should rather see this transparency as a chance. Intimate information, of course, should certainly not be available on the internet. Thus, it is important to regularly check one’s own online traces. Regarding to all this, Yasni can perfectly assist you as a search engine including the free e-mail monitoring.

(Image: © XtravaganT – Fotolia.com)

Tips for Building Your Online Reputation

In today’s business world, it is very important to manage one’s reputation in the eyes of customers and potential business partners. As many businesses go online, it becomes equally important to manage their online reputation, and they need to be mindful of their actions in the virtual world. To develop a positive reputation in the online world, a business should be able to see how customers view its practices, products and services, and what is being said about the company in the virtual circles. Here are some tips to manage your online reputation, which can help in winning potential customers and strengthen ties with business partners:

Keep your eyes and ears open

It is very important for a business to proactively manage and monitor its online reputation so that any negative publicity may be handled effectively. To handle any situation that gives the business a bad name, it is important to be aware what the people think about the business. A business should constantly search different sources of information such as the web and set up email alerts to become aware of what the people are saying about it. Without knowing the public perception about the products and services offered by the company, it would become very difficult to manage the online reputation in a targeted way.

Develop an active online community

With the advent of social media, people are easily influenced by their circle of family and friends. A business must become active on all channels frequented by its target market and customers. The power of online communities should be tapped through blogging, forum participation and even physically reaching out to the community. Becoming an active member of the community would help to develop a positive brand image and generate good publicity for the business. By gaining more positive citations, a business would be in a better shape to effectively manage its online reputation. Social media can be used as a helpful medium for communication and customer support. More and more businesses are setting up their official pages and groups on these social media channels. As consumers often share their experiences on social media, which are viewed by their friends and family, it is important that businesses provide excellent customer services to win over customers. In case the company receives bad press, these online channels also prove to be effective in conveying the message to public that the business is taking active measures to counter the situation.

Welcome customer feedback

While most customers generally trust the product reviews received from their close ones, many of them also like to do their own research. These customers turn to search engines like Google and other product review websites to know more about experiences of other people with the product. Businesses should welcome customers to share their feedback and reviews about the product. These reviews, both good and bad, could really help the business by keeping the product information fresh and accurate. By keeping such forums open for interaction with the customers, a business may be able to win some points for customer service. Businesses may also encourage customer reviews through comment cards and links to business profiles in different publications. Positive product reviews can help the business to develop a favorable reputation and increase its customer base.

With Yasni the above mentioned statements can be combined very well: With a Yasni Exposé you can both monitor your online reputation as well as influence it. You will receive all new information comfortably by e-mail at any time and will be found better by potential customers. With the Yasni product “Exposé Promotion” there are even more possibilities: The Exposé will be displayed on top of all competitors not having Exposé Promotion. Furthermore, the offer or service will be more eye-catching by entering a short slogan and displaying the Exposé on the Yasni front page.

Donna Hays is a full-time PR consultant and marketer. She is a keen reader and freelancer of topics related to businesses and social media. She writes for Degree Jungle a resource for university students.