FAQ

“Public relations is more vital than ever, given the explosion of consumer engagement through new and social media, the collapse of reputation and trust in major institutions and the evolving needs and concerns of corporate CEOs.” - The Public Relations Society of America

What is reputation management?

Reputation management is a professional communications practice – a specialization within the public relations industry. Reputation management ensures that the information about an individual, business or organization is accessible to the public online as well as through traditional outlets and is accurate, up-to-date and authentic. 

What is online reputation management?

Online reputation management entails establishing, improving and monitoring the publicly available online information about a subject.

What is behind the growth in demand for these services?

The free flow of information online has expanded the public relations industry’s need to be proactive, specifically by establishing a prominent and authoritative identity for clients online and off. It has also become necessary to continuously monitor publicly available information to maintain the integrity of that identity. Reputation Communications developed out of the growing need for both services.

Now that I know that, can I change or remove old or incorrect information about me that is online?

That depends on where it is located and how it originated. Many online information platforms, like Zoominfo.com, use programs to automatically scour the Internet to aggregate information and post it. Some allow users to access their profile, so you can edit and update information about you on those sites. Other platforms make that process much more difficult.

Blogs often will correct information that is inaccurate (the name of your company, your title or position, etc), if you contact them in a neutral, reasonable manner – the
way you would a newspaper editor.

If the information is on an online gossip site, a forum or many other types of online platforms you have little control over it short of legal action. Any request you e-mail to the website administrator may be ignored, declined or simply posted itself, actions that are each in compliance with the Communications Decency Act of 1995, a law that has not caught up with the tremendous proliferation of online use. 

According to Section 230 of the Act, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

Creating your own online image – with information that accurately profiles your career, business and other relevant endeavors – is the best strategy for counteracting and possibly replacing inaccurate online information. Reputation Communications can develop and establish a comprehensive online image for you.

Can I have a photograph of me that has been published on a website removed or replaced?

The open culture of the Internet – where it is common for bloggers to be transparent about editing errors they have corrected and post disclaimers if they write about a company they have worked for or accepted product samples from – helps explain why it can be so hard to have a photograph (or anything else) removed. Doing so without a publicly posted explanation would be considered unethical by many online publishers and writers. Wikipedia is a good example of this system. Whenever a fact is changed, removed or replaced, it is accompanied by an explanation of who edited it and why the edit was made.

So not only is your request likely to be declined, it is possible it may be published on the site, drawing more attention to the image and making you the target of other sites that will post the image. In any case, the longer a photograph stays online, the more it is cached (stored) in other sites and gains prominence in search engines.

The best option is to post your own photographs online—the images you believe represent you and your organization best and most authentically—and take action to ensure they take precedence over other images of you in search engine results. Reputation Communications provides that service.