With the Internet today literally being at the tips of society’s fingers with tablets, laptops and cell phones, it is imperative that people learn how to manage their reputation online. Matt Ivester’s book, LOL…OMG! explains how people can control how other individuals perceive them on the Internet.

January is Data Privacy Month and because of this, EduCause, a nonprofit organization that promotes higher education, hosted a webinar with presenter Matt Ivester, that explains the effects of mismanagement on the web. Ivester’s book is broken into two parts that detail how people represent themselves and how they treat others on the Internet.

Cell phones and laptops have made it easier for people to become engrossed in social media, but is that a bad thing?

“There is nothing wrong with representing yourself on the Internet because if you don’t do it, other people will and they might misrepresent you,” said Ivester.

Ivester’s book has something all people, especially high school and college students, should take heed to.

Most students have social network pages and know so much about them, what they do not know is that many people are doing more than just browsing for entertainment on these social networks. Many students do not know that seventy percent of big companies have rejected a job candidate due to what was found on the Internet. There is a company called Social Intelligence that is hired by major corporations to do social background checks on job candidates. The company finds as much public information as they can on someone and reports it back to the company paying for the service. Not only can this effect whether or not someone gets a job, it can effect what college a student is admitted to. Twenty-four percent of college admissions officers have gone on an applicant’s Facebook page or other social network to check them out.

Anderson Hood, a senior at University of West Georgia, expressed his astonishment. “I’ve never heard of Social Intelligence. It didn’t dawn on me that employers would go to such lengths to see what I put on the Internet.”

Ivester explains that teenagers and young adults do not know how serious an online reputation is; therefore they do not take it seriously. He goes to explain that today, a first impression is made online and people seriously get judged by the content that they put out.

There are three top reasons potential employees do not get hired; content related to drugs and alcohol, discriminatory comments and bad communication skills. Though this may worry some students because of what they have already posted on the web, Ivester makes it clear that any online reputation can be cleaned.

What is put on the Internet is permanently public information, so it is virtually impossible to delete it. However, three steps will help you clean up your image. The first step is to decide what content you want online. If it is in your control to delete bad pictures or comments, do it immediately. If a friend is the owner of a bad picture, ask them to delete it or take it off the Internet. Step two is clean up your current presence. Start to evaluate why you want to post a particular comment or picture before you post it. Step three is to build and maintain going forward. Do not shy away from the Internet, turn it around for something constructive and promote positivity.

Today, getting on the Internet is almost as easy as breathing. With that comes much responsibility and everyone must take that seriously. It is okay if people have made mistakes on the web that they wish never happened but it is never too late to correct them. With dedication, anyone can fix their online reputation and stand out in a good way on the Internet.