Online+reputation

=media type="youtube" key="QMMOy1CbsgQ" height="315" width="560" align="right"What's Your Internet Rep?=

We all want our digital reputations to be good ones, especially since a whole world of internet users can, more often than not, see it.

Today’s teens interact very differently than previous generations. The world they live in is increasingly wired, and youth are almost continuously connected to their peers through a vast network of electronic media. Although media has bombarded parents for years with messages about the dangers of online interaction, many parents fail to realize that there are more risks inherent with continuous use of electronic media than the threat of Internet predators. Internet reputation management, electronic privacy, and cyberbullying all need to factor into how parents manage their children’s time spent with various forms of communications media.

Let's watch this video to get more information on how to keep our digital rep clean:

What best practices stand out for you?
==[|Controlling Your Online Reputation with “The Grandma Test”] ==

Remind your students that they're not as anonymous as they might think. Advise them to choose an email address wisely. Sending off college applications with contact details for cutekitten2012@idiotmail.com is not going create a good first impression. Whilst this alone is unlikely to be enough to get an application rejected, remember entry to the best colleges is highly competitive and your teen is going to have to come across as a studious and responsible candidate.

A New York Times article addresses the challenges and difficulties of erasing and controlling your digital past. When posting to the internet, think: “Would you want grandma to see this picture or read that text?”

Ways to Control your Rep!

 * 1) **Post positive information in your searchable profile.**There are many items that you can add to your online profile that might be looked upon favorably by employers and can help your online reputation. Try posting items about yourself that support your professional qualifications, details that illustrate your creativity, items that show you have solid communication skills and positive references from others.
 * 2) **Avoid posting negative information in your searchable profile.** There are many items that could appear on your online profile that can be looked upon unfavorably by employers and other users that can hurt your online reputation. Avoid posting inappropriate photographs or personal information, bad-mouthing previous employers on the profile, items that show poor communication skills, poor grammar, or false information about your qualifications and skills.
 * 3) **Utilize security settings**. Most social networking sites offer security settings that you can apply to your online profile. In most applications, you can control who is able to find your profile through a search and what people can see what information. In Facebook, you can also create friend lists. Friend lists are lists for categorizing your friends into various groups. You can then designate what groups of friends can see what information in your profile.
 * 4) **Don't friend or follow everybody.** Make sure you know the person who has requested to be your friend or who has requested to follow you before you accept. The more people who are connected to your profile, the more chances that your information can be seen by anybody.
 * 5) **Monitor what can be found about you online.** Search for yourself on the popular search engines. You may have been “tagged” in a picture that is searchable that you were unaware of.
 * 6) **Don't mix business and leisure online.** Set up different profiles for your professional network and your personal network. Or, set up a LinkedIn profile for your professional network, and give only your friends access to Facebook.

RETURN to Digital CItizenship Home Page
21 Things for Students [|DigiTeen Project] (Multinational group working on Digital Citizenship for Teenagers)
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Video Courtesy of In Plain English: Protecting Reputations Online
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