Life

Protecting Your Online Reputation

There are so many social media platforms these days and although social media in itself is not a bad thing; it’s ruining people’s reputation daily.

We must understand that though the Internet has a way of providing us with a false sense of anonymity, we are not completely anonymous. Especially when we don’t use aliases and people know our names and have our pictures.

Social Media tends to make us to stop seeing people as people and to forget that we have lives outside of; Facebook, IG,  snap chat,  Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. It also tends to give us a wrong impression that having dual personality is OK. Hence, from observation, you can see that people have 2 personalities – their ‘real personality’ and their online personality. This is leading to a lot of ruined and botched reputations. 

In the subsequent lines, I will be sharing tips on why and how to maintain our online reputation; 


1. Realise that your online personality and offline personality make up your real personality;

Due to the fact that social media provides the opportunity for people to connect across borders, people know other people for the first time online. As a result, the first impression that many people will get of you is the one that you portray online and like the saying goes, ‘first impressions are hard to correct.’ Not only is it hard, sadly most of us may never have the chance to correct those impressions because social media may be the only meeting point for us and this person.

There may never be an opportunity to ‘show them what you are really like.’ Is what you are on social media really what you want people to know about you?

2. Have set standards and values and maintain them

If your status says one thing, let the kind of pictures, comments and tweets you post and like, reflect the same. It amazes me when I see people who say they love Christ post crass comments or pictures.

If you say you want to promote decency,  then don’t go about posting or reposting nude pictures,  it doesn’t matter if that’s the only picture of your best friend you have and it’s her birthday. Or that you are trying to market your product and the only picture you have of the product is one that doesn’t speak well of your brand. It’s better not to post at all than to post something that doesn’t speak well. Or you can just update your status and stop giving the rest of us a bad image.

3. Do not post just anything

Some things are for private consumption, don’t feel obligated to put them on a public site. These are not necessarily bad things, they are just things that should be kept personal.

For instance; why should everyone know that you have menstrual cramps? Or why should we see a video of you and your friends twerking in the room? Think about it, of what benefit is it to anyone if you post such a thing? Even when you take them down later, someone probably already has them.

4. Do not like just anything.

I see some people use the hashtag #likeforlike and it bothers me. It portrays to me that so long as someone likes your photo, it doesn’t matter what they are promoting you will like it. Liking something shows that you are giving it your seal of approval. People don’t only look at what you post, they also look at what you like (remember it will most likely show on the news feed, with your name on it). What would the kind of pictures you like say about you?

5. Do not compromise your values.

You are more than your number of likes, views or retweets on social media so don’t compromise your values to get them. Stay true to your set standards.

Always remember, Once you post something on the internet, even if you have a rethink and take it down, there is a high probability that someone other than you already has it. Will what you post cause you to be embarrassed in the future? Is it compromising?  Does this cast you in a bad light?  Then don’t post it or be ready to live with the aftermath.

These are a few tips I have for you, they are not exhaustive, so please feel free to add yours. Thanks!

About author

Articles

Tolulope Oludapo is a young Christian who lends his voice through the media by sharing practical wisdom for everyday living in the most experiential and simplified fashion. This has fetched him the direct followership of over 30,000 users on his blog, lifegiva.com. A blog he founded. He loves to write on varying subjects that affect life, faith, relationship...everyday living.
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