Microsoft recently commissioned a detailed study on the impact of and trends around online reputation. They have made the results and conclusions available in a powerpoint presentation, which we have embedded below. The study was undertaken in part to contribute to “Data Privacy Day”, which falls on January 28, 2010.
We are currently reviewing the very detailed findings and conclusions of this report and shall be posting our comments in the near future.
Overview from the report summary:
This research examines the expanding role of online reputation in both professional and personal lives. It studies how recruiters and HR professionals use online reputational information in their candidate review processes, and how consumers feel about this use of their information. It investigates the steps consumers take to monitor and protect their online reputation.
Lisa France, a writer and producer at CNN.com, has this story today on celebrity death of 2009 and why it may appear to some that this year was different from the past.
Minor figures like Brittany Murphy and DJ AM get elevated to rock-star status for various reasons — the deaths come at a shockingly young age, for example — but mostly because those who care about their lives are young social networkers who drive tremendous traffic online.
Brittany Murphy had a devoted following but is vastly unknown to a great many film lovers. Which is not to say or imply she was without talent, but her performances drew mixed reviews, her promise was largely unfulfilled and she never said anything particularly memorable about her craft. Yet she gets outrageous attention because of online interest, whereas a proven and talented, Academy Award-winning actress like Jennifer Jones, who died days earlier, gets comparably little attention.
What do you think about the impact of social networking and what CNN’s France calls our “overly Twittered culture”?
Do you use the Adobe Acrobat Reader on Windows, Mac or Linux?
Do you know there is CRITICAL security defect in Acrobat versions 8 and 9. And that it’s not going to be fixed until January 12!
If you haven’t already done so it is a very good idea to follow Adobe’s simple instructions to protect yourself until the updated versions are made available.
If you use or employ a tech expert / geek / IT consultant and they are not on top of this please hit them with a rolled-up newspaper or an object of similar density and lethality.
This is a bone-headed response, or should I say non-response. The company was not at fault when criminals copied the website and brand, but they are at fault for not alerting their customers and innocent third parties.
Are the management clueless idiots asleep at the wheel?
I guess we’ll have to “Ask Sunday” and find out. If they are still in business.
January 27th, 2010 
Nick Braak 
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