Devon Hopkins » Reputation

Facebook for the Over 40: Part 2

Devon Hopkins — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:15:24 +0000

In my last post on Facebook for the Over 40, I showed you how to change your privacy settings to keep your profile safe. Now that you are protected, let’s talk about interacting with friends and family. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your connections.

Part 2: Interacting with Friends and Family

1. Don’t be offended when your family members don’t friend you back.

Either you have already experienced this or you will. You friend your favorite nephew and, oh no!, they don’t accept your friend request. Do not take this personally. They probably have not cleaned up their online reputation yet.

Many facebook users, especially younger users, have their entire lives on facebook (they shouldn’t). Instead of feeling rejected, why don’t you point your family member to “How to Create an Exclusive Friends List”. That way, they can friend you and keep their profile private.

2. When responding to a wall post, respond on the other person’s wall.

So, someone wrote on your wall! Great! Now, how do you respond? Maybe this tip seems obvious to you, but I’ve seen a surprising number of people respond to a wall post by writing on their own wall. This is like receiving a letter and addressing your responding letter to yourself. They will be looking on their wall for a response, not on yours.

When you receive a wall post, click “See Wall to Wall” in the bottom right corner of the box. This shows you the conversation between you and your friend. Now you can type in the response box and the comment will go directly to their wall.

3. Control your feed so you can hear from people you actually care about.

Most people don’t know that the main feed on the facebook homepage is fully customizable. Unless you really want to see everything your 40 random high school friends from 1970 are doing, let me show you how to customize your feed to show you the activity of the friends you really what to hear from.

Create an exclusive friends list with the people who’s activity you want to see.
Go to your Facebook Homepage and click “More” under the left column.
Drag the exclusive list that you just created to the top of the column.

Now, when you login, your feed will be populated with activity from the people in your exclusive friends list, saving you time sifting through random updates from people you don’t really care about.

Quick Tip: Look at Friend Suggestions to find people you might want to connect with. Facebook suggests friends you might know on the right side of your homepage. Click “See All” to find people who share the same friends as you.

4. Create a facebook group for your family.

Facebook groups, while often used to idolize Britney Spears, are also a great tool for families looking for a communal space online. Create a group for your family and start sharing pictures, videos, links, stories, or anything else your family would find interesting.

These tips will help you be more efficient in your Facebook usage. Three weeks ago, I left the United States to study abroad in Spain for the semester. It has been an extremely exhausting and wonderful experience thus far. One of the things that has helped me adjust is the ability to keep in contact with people from home through social media and online services like Skype. The possibilities for increased connectivity are endless, so I urge you to explore, connect, and let me know how it goes!

5 Ways to Clean Up Your Online Reputation on Facebook

Devon Hopkins — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:00:19 +0000

So now you know why you need to manage your online reputation. As an artist or as a job-seeking individual, future clients and employers are looking and you need to take control of what they see. Let’s look at a few easy things that you can do today to clean up your Facebook profile and avoid missing out on opportunities because of embarrassing content.

chug chug chug (lochnessjess on Flickr)

1. Untag any pictures you wouldn’t want your boss seeing.

Be ruthless with this. I don’t want to see any pictures of your first keg stand or the outrageously inappropriate costume you wore for Halloween.

2. Don’t let embarrassing pictures be taken of you in the first place.

If you are thinking to yourself, “I’m going to have to untag this” then maybe you shouldn’t take it in the first place. Also, there should be absolutely no pictures of underage drinking or illegal drug consumption in your profile.

3. Make an exclusive friends list for your pictures.

Most people create a “Limited Profile” list of friends, where they choose who they don’t want to see their pictures and other content. Instead of this, try creating a “Pictures Viewable” list of friends, where you choose who you do want to see your pictures. This reduces the number of random people viewing your content, because you have to consciously choose who gets to see it.

Go to your Friends page and “Create New List” titled “Pictures Viewable”.

Now click “All Connections” and select the friends you want to see your pictures by clicking “Add to List” and selecting “Pictures Viewable”.

Go into your Profile Privacy Settings. Select “Custom” on the drop-down menu next to Photos Tagged of You.

Select the bullet “Some Friends” and type in “Pictures Viewable” or whatever you named the group.

Uncheck any networks you had selected previously.

Click here for full picture tutorial.

Now, in order for people to see your pictures, they must be manually added to this exclusive group.

4. Change your privacy settings.

Facebook, by default, allows almost everyone to see your profile. This is probably, not what you want. Explore the Privacy Settings menu and customize to your liking. In my opinion, the safer the better. Here are my suggestions:

Limit your profile visibility to “Only Friends” or something more exclusive.

Have your Search visibility set to Everyone, but only allow people who find you in search to see a Profile Picture, link to add you as a friend, and a link to message you.

Create a public listing for search engines. You still want people to be able to find you, just not able to stalk you.

5. Don’t forget your profile pictures.

Even once you have created an exclusive friends list for your pictures and untagged any embarrassing photos, you still have to go in and manually delete any profile pictures that you might not want visible. Click directly on your profile pictures to browse through your Profile Pictures Album. Hit Delete Photo for any pictures that don’t meet the same criteria you used to clear up your other photos.

The 9 most frequently searched terms on Google about “facebook privacy” are about breaking into private facebook profiles. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to remove any and all incriminating content. Manage your online presence, take out your digital trash, and enjoy a spotless, searchable reputation.

Why You Should Manage Your Online Reputation

Devon Hopkins — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:00:27 +0000

Have you Googled your name recently? While self-searching might seem a little narcissistic, it is becoming a vital practice in managing your personal brand and cleaning up your online reputation.

According to a survey by Jump Start Social Media:

48% of hiring managers use Facebook, 75% use LinkedIn, and 26% use Twitter to research candidates before making a job offer.

In addition, according to CNN.com:

34% of hiring managers choose not to hire a candidate based on what they find in online profiles.

Managing your online reputation is becoming more and more important, whether you like it or not. Penelope Trunk writes that you do not have to quit your day job to pursue a career in art. To help maintain or obtain that day job, let’s look at some of the things you can do right now to start cleaning up your digital dirt.

1. Start by Googling Yourself

If your employers are going to be googling you, then you should know what they are going to see. This preliminary search will give you an idea of where you stand with your online identity. Is there a lot of embarrassing stuff out there about you? Is there nothing out there about you (this is an equally important problem that I will discuss later)? Set up a Google Alert that will let you know every time a new search result appears with your name.

2. Make a list of your online profiles

Compile a comprehensive list of all your profiles on social networking sites and any other profiles that might come up in a search for your name. The object of managing your personal brand online is not becoming invisible, but rather controlling what future business contacts, employers, and colleagues will see. For profiles and accounts that you do not want to show up in search results, simply use an ambiguous display name and avatar. Use Google to remind yourself of profiles you might have that you forgot about.

3. Clean up your “Big Three”

If hiring managers are looking on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, then you definitely want to be visible in those places.

CNN says that “of the hiring managers who use social networking sites for candidate research, 24 percent said profiles encouraged them to hire the job seekers.”

Being on these sites can give you a leg up against the competition, but only if you are conscious and cautious of the material posted. When considering any social network, keeping in mind that privacy is a precaution, not a solution. If content is online, then it is accessible one way or another.

There is a happy medium between being private and being invisible. If employers search for you and find nothing, then you look sadly out of touch. Check back tomorrow for specific steps to privatizing and cleaning up your Facebook profile.

To get a head start: Untag your keg stand pictures.