If there was doubt among some experts about the existence of the concept of online reputation in practice, I think it was completely empirically demonstrated its existence in the case of professional PR Justine Sacco and his infamous tweet, the last Friday night.

Some data on this mega-fail

The reputation of Justine, like anyone, is obviously one, but the environments where social representations are articulated on their person are two: the offline and online, so you have to know how to manage reputation off and online. If it were not generated prints your twit bedraggled, none of that would happen. That is, it was the mismanagement of their interactions in the digital environment generated by the bad evaluation about him – and that is what is the reputation, recognition on the behavior of individuals or organizations.

Justine won the tweet undoubtedly the dumbest title twit of the year, and makes us think about the risks of online environment, in two areas, personal and organizational. Leave here, suggestions, some ideas to prevent online reputation crisis (ie, originating in the online environment) as well happen:

The management of personal online reputation

1. Keep in mind, always, that social media are public media. What’s funny to gang is not necessarily funny to everyone.
2. Keep in mind, always, that what is published in social media can be manipulated and disseminated quickly and without your control.
3. NEVER post anything on social media that you would say to strangers. You may Justine is not dumb, racist and insensitive person your tweet transmitted (got attack in less than 140 characters, sick of AIDS, Africans and blacks at a time), and that could be accepted in his particular environment (family and friends), but, returning to point 1, communication in social media is not only personal communication is a communication which also has characteristics of mass communication. So the image that will make you will not mediated understanding and positive feelings that your friends are to you, you do not have that, especially in more controversial publications.
4. If you are an executive, do not think that what you write represents you only. Your image is always associated with your organization, sometimes implicitly or explicitly (in the case of Justine, his Twitter profile the descrebía with executive business, IAC, whereby the reaction of the company was inevitable). The company can (and should) take action against an employee who can not behave in public, all the time that could compromise their reputation, as was the case. Having a professional racist PR is not just a good idea (perhaps for the Ku Klux Klan, yeah)
5. Finally, never publish anything controversial in a hurry, or under the influence of drugs. It is proven that excitement makes people talk too much, and possibly lose control of what they should say.

Organizational management online reputation

The above suggestions can serve as a basis for organizations, but corporate reputation online has a lot to do with the work of community managers and branding strategy, which some adaptations are necessary:

1. social brands do not mean SILLY brands: increasingly social media are part of the basic resources of corporate communications of companies. A tweet or a post on Facebook should be aligned with the branding of the organization, and users think social media is a “friáis” accept anything that is a colossal mistake. The (a little more relaxed and direct, no doubt) organizational tone prevails, if the company wants to use social media responsibly.
2. In line with the above, the community managers should be able to fit the script of branding, and avoid customize their comments and interactions. For Kit Kat / Killer was paradigmatic in this sense, then, clearly, your community manager crossed the line between personal and professional.
3. Finally, as I have already written, “the viral markerting is the art of accepting the risks of popularity”, ie, if a brand wants to gain notoriety, you can risk not please everyone, and using hint of controversy, or even morbid curiosity, of course, otherwise go unnoticed. That means that the risks must be calculated, and form part of a strategy, which, for example, did very well Oreo and post on Facebook in the day of gay pride.

To conclude, reputation is a pear online reputation there, because what you do and say in the online feature for recognition that make you or your company holistically.