I am a strong believer that social media tools should in part be used as “reputation management”. What you happens online, stays online…but that doesn’t mean it’s forgotten. Quite to the contrary, anything you say online will stay online forever…anyone can find it.

I encourage everyone who participates in any online mediums to think about the following:

• Think before you write
• Why are you sharing the information that you are
• What will you gain from sharing that information (not that there should be the expectation of getting something in return)
• Who could you hurt if you say something negative
• Is what you are saying factual
• Review what you wrote, check grammar and spelling (please!)
• Sit on it! Give it some time if you are writing a long piece, come back to it and then review it again
• Share your information with the appropriate niches

One person whom I follow online for great personal branding and reputation management advice is Dan Schwabel. Through his blog he shares advice on how to best manage how you present yourself to the digital world. Check it out.

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