Have you ever tried to get a job when the first page of search results for your name has been spammed by your ex-girlfriend? Imagine the surprise the Human Resources people at the company where you just applied see search results that portray you as a cross-dressing pedophile with an unnatural appreciation for slasher movies (let's assume you're not). Rather than trying to discover whether it's true or not, they may just decide to pass you over.
Executives, company owners, politicians, and janitors all have personal brands. As individuals, our reputation is our brand. Personal reputation management responds to current or future threats to the individual as brand. Protective reputation management is best, but like hard drive failure, few think about it until the worst happens.
Managing online reputations for people differs from reputation management for companies, products or services. Often personal search engine reputation management takes the form of content creation as personal web sites, blogs, online profiles, and comments. Destination sites and pages are updated fairly often, usually by ghost writers. The amount of time and resources necessary depends on whether the problem is Active/Defensive, Passive/Defensive, or Prophylactic (preventative).
