Social Media – Managing Your Online Reputation

On Friday April 4^th 2014 I attended a workshop entitled “Social Media- Online Reputation & Best Practice” by Joanne Sweeney- Burke. Before the commencement of this workshop, I have to admit I was a small bit worried. I did not know what we were going to be looking at or doing. Once we stepped inside the door to this workshop, we were all told what we would be doing for the day. Joanne went through the outline of the course and we were able to see what exactly was happening. We all now knew this would be very interesting and a worthwhile experience.

This workshop, to me was hugely beneficial and I learned material in this that I never before would have been aware of.

Joanne started by asking and telling us about the Social Media Revolution. This was a very interesting piece as we discussed various Social Media avenues we as young adults are involved in. The amount of Social Media use within the room was phenomenal with many sites/ apps being explored hourly by the group. The positives and negatives of these were given to us through the medium of discussion. These negatives are things we would never think of. This discussion really got me thinking about my online reputation.

Online reputation as defined by Joanne is “A new phenomenon by which employers, educators and peers create an opinion on us” . Online reputation is something I would never before have thought of and not considered it important for me as a graduate seeking employment. Now I can clearly see the benefits of careful and successful management of this. This workshop made me think about how I will use Social Media in a safe manner. We create our own online reputation by posting on “Facebook”, tweeting on “Twitter”, posting pictures, comments and shares/ re-tweets. But we are not the sole responsibility for our online reputation. This can also be created by others. A tag or a mention can also do this. “Snapchat” is a prime example of this. Once you send a picture it is now out of your hands and can be screen-shotted by others. This can then be posted on other Social Media outlets.

Once something is posted online it is there to stay! Online activity is never deleted no matter if you delete it or not. I found this piece of information shocking and this really considered me to think about my online reputation. I will now in future protect my online reputation by watching what I post and what I am tagged in. I can improve my online reputation by simply joining other Social Media sites. But one has to ask is managing your reputation as easy as that? Social Media is the new future and is ever evolving.

Seamus Leahy

St. Patricks College, Thurles