(image credit TMAB2003)

Great article here from TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington discussing the increasingly complex task of protecting your individual reputation over the Internet. Soon will it be the case that it isn’t just companies who are watching their brand online, but we are as individuals too?

We already hear tales of employees being fired for ill advised postings on Facebook and how we should all be aware of the influence social networks can have on job applications, it would be of no surprise to see our online reputations become even harder to control as social media continues to spread. The TechCrunch article mentions a forthcoming startup best described as a “Yelp for people” that could soon be the hub for such chatter.

The possible implications for this at first seem quite scary… Bad tipper? Have too much “fun” at college? Not treating your dates to drinks? All this, and more, could potentially be online for the world to see with ramifications both professionally and personally. However, the person stood next you at the job interview, or bar, or wherever, will have the same skeletons laid bare on the Internet. In which case perhaps we will all have to adjust to seeing our secrets in the public domain and whilst taking care to do our own personal “brand monitoring” just learn to get on with things?