Recently The Official Google Blog posted an article entitled Managing Your Online Reputation Through Search Results. The bullet points are worth repeating:

• Think twice
• Tackle it at the source
• Proactively publish information

While the second and third points are helpful to remove or hide (read: “bury”) already published information, the first point, if followed, will go a long way to avoiding ever needing the other two.

That is, for the main part, your online reputation is up to you. Think twice before posting or replying online.

But, what should one consider prior to making a comment, uploading a picture, giving a shout-out to a buddy, etc., online? First and foremost always remember this maxim:

The Internet Never Forgets

Indexing engines, content scrapers, RSS/ATOM feed readers, etc., mean that once something is available online it generally remains available even if the original source of the posting is removed. In fact, sometimes removing a questionable posting from the source creates more attention to the item than leaving it alone. Ever seen an Outlook user request a recall on an errant email? The resulting “so@so.com wants to recall” message usually guarantees more people will review the original message itself (few email clients respect this “recall” feature). The same attention is garnered by removing posts or entire threads to forums, etc.

One example in particular is Twitter. Posting to Twitter is easy – so easy a person unable to drive due to substance abuse can still “tweet.” Sure, going back the next day and deleting the post may appear to remove the evidence of a wild night from one’s Twitter page, but simply using the http://search.twitter.com page will reveal the errant posts for anyone who is interested. While deleting posts is still recommended on occasions the sad fact is; “Once Tweeted, Never Deleted.” There are even services that will “recover” deleted tweets from any Twitter user – example: http://tweleted.com/ [rjt: now defunct, see below].

Update: According to TechCrunch as of 10/24/2009 Twitter now removes deleted tweets from the search results as well as a users tweet stream. However, the fact remains that any service that automatically collects tweets and stores them outside of Twitter’s control *may* still be able to reproduce “deleted” tweets. ALWAYS act under the assumption that what you post in a public forum will remain publicly available.

Before posting, keeping the above in mind, there are two other questions you should ask yourself. These two were suggested to me by Rob La Gesse and I’ve come to treasure their simplicity and profundity:

Q: Is it hurtful?

We’ve all seen it – flamewars over operating systems, programming languages  or other religious matters. Debates that spin wildly out of control enhanced by the apparent anonymity of the Internet. But this is only one obvious form of “hurtful.’ Other more serious hurtful examples include:

• violations of SEC disclosure/insider trading regulations,
• corporate trade secrets,
• items under NDA,
• violations of employee privacy (such as compensation, HR issues, health information)

But moreover there are hurtful things that may be less obvious. For example, when a competitor is experiencing a service failure there’s a tendency to say, “Woo hoo! XYZ Co. blew it!” Sometimes co-workers even say something about this to each other, privately. But posted publicly it hurts. First, it creates a negative reaction from third party observers: it’s just flat-out ugly. Like cheering when an opposing team loses a player due to injury: revolting. Second, “Pride comes before a fall”: cheer when XZY Co. suffers failure *only* if you’re positive you’ll never suffer a failure yourself. People will remember the hubris and use it against you when the stars misalign over you.

For a real-world case study showing the harm that can come from gloating over a competitor’s misstep read this blog post by Shel Israel regarding Rackspace, OnlineTech and ServInt. As a bonus it shows what can be gained by correctly maneuvering these two questions for one’s own benefit.

Other examples include mixing personal opinions with official company positions. Now, not many of us think we might do this, but by announcing publicly one is an employee of ABC Company that one takes on added scrutiny of his or her online activities. Have a company twibbon? Your 2 AM tweets about being inebriated are branded with your company. That’s hurtful to more than just you: now your reputation is tied to your company’s as well. Unfair? Sure! But this is an opt-in problem: when in doubt, don’t link personal life and work.

Bottom line: if it’s hurtful, it’s not helpful and should probably not be posted publicly.

Q: Is it helpful?

This question goes to the heart of managing your online reputation. If others find you as a resource of helpful information, whether technical, inspirational, educational, or even entertainment, your reputation online will grow in positive ways. Think in this way: what reputation do I want to have online? Then work towards creating that reputation with your actions.

A great example of one creating a helpful reputation is Major Hayden, AKA RackerHacker. Sure, he, I and others get into silly #YELLING fits at times on Twitter, but generally Major’s reputation is set by the excellent work he does with his blog, RackerHacker.com, and his frequent linking to helpful information via his Twitter account. He manages to be himself (Chinchillas!) yet present information people technically inclined tend to respect. His work on mysqltuner.pl helps to give credence to his helpful persona. It’s who he is and what he does.

So, avoid the call from a lawyer demanding you to remove a public disclosure faux pax by remembering: Is it hurtful? Is it helpful? We’ll all be the better for it.