“Sticks and Stones may break your bones but words can never hurt you.” Though this saying sounds good, in our day and age it’s untrue. Whether or not you realize it, there is a lot of personal information available about you on the web. Negative information can actually hurt your online reputation, which in turn can hurt your brand or business. Managing that information can be a difficult process with the evolution of social media. You never know if someone will tag you in an inappropriate photo, spread baseless opinions about you or otherwise mess with your reputation.

If you conduct business online, or have an online presence for a product, service, talent, or skill you need to manage how the millions upon millions of online users perceive you. In Microsoft’s safety and security center it says, “You can create an image of yourself online through information you share in blogs, comments, tweets, snapshots, videos and links. However, others add their own opinions (good or bad), which contribute to your reputation.”

Fortunately, there are tools out there to help you manage that reputation. These tools require some work to really make the most of what they offer. But if you actually spend time with them you can help massage your reputation in a positive way. Here are 5 tools to help you monitor your online reputation:

Google’s Me on the Web
Google has a tool that allows you to easily monitor search results for your name. “Me on the Web” is a personalized Google Alert that can be accessed directly from your Google Dashboard when you log in to your Google account. This can help you monitor whenever your name or email address is mentioned publicly online. It also assists you in the removal of unwanted content and can help you manage your online identity.

Reputation.com
Reputation.com is a service that allows you to see how you look online. The service is free. All you do is create an account then you can monitor your online “buzz,” search for and remove any negative information/mentions about you and find out how you can control what people see when they search for you.

Social Mention
You can also track your name online on Social Mention. It’s a social media search engine that searches blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and micro-blogging services. You can select the sources you want to search and employ email alerts or a personalized RSS feed to stay up to date.

WhosTalkin.com
WhosTalkin.com is a social media search tool that allows users to search for conversations surrounding the topics that they care about most. WhosTalkin can help you join in on the conversations that you care about most whether it be a favorite sport, food, celebrity or a company’s brand name. WhosTalkin doesn’t help you mange the results, but it gives you a lightning-fast look at what the web is saying about your name or brand. The difference between this service and Google Search is that WhosTalkin focuses only on social media, so your results aren’t buried inside other results.

Knowem
Knowem helps you secure your personal name or username on more than 590 social media services and websites. You’ll hardly use any of the services you sign up for via Knowem, but it will insure that your name or pseudonym will not be related to any undesirable content on those websites is worth the effort.

Your online reputation can be everything in this constantly evolving online-centric world we are living in. It’s important to monitor your online reputation and see what is out there. If you don’t you run the risk of seeing your reputation plummet. These tools can keep you on top of your online reputation.

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Photo Credit: Kevin Briody