Is Your Virtual Fly Open?

I can remember like it was yesterday my most embarrassing moments. When I was a 6th grader I gave a class presentation on the attributes of Argentina. The first question I got from a girl in the front row, "Why is your fly open?" Suffice it to say that it slightly undermined my wonderful talk about llamas. 🙂
Yet as I meet people  or prepare to meet people, I Google them and see that their virtual fly is wide open. 
UNC fly is open

One of the greatest trends in the world today is the ability to promote and present oneself to the world. Like all reputational and brand matters you take control of this process or it controls you. 

Whether you like it or not you have created and not necessarily curated an online presentation of yourself . What is your online presence right now? What is your online reputation? Your online brand?


When someone Googles you, they get search results and there you are. I know some stuff is out there that you can't control but there are also things you can. Like your photo.

So most of your networking is being done without you. This has always been the case. Your reputation precedes you. Your brand has attributes and travels around especially when you are not there. Social media and the world wide web just makes this process faster and further outside of your control. 
Each of you owns a social media company—YOU! 

Here's what guru Seth Godin says:

All of us own our own media companies now. We each have the ability to speak up, to tell our stories, and if we're good and if we're lucky, to be heard.

Too often, though, there's no signal. You may be pumping noise through your social media outlets, but noise isn't signal. It's merely a distraction. You're talking, but you're not saying anything, at least nothing that's being heard.

You get to choose your story. If the story you've chosen doesn't get through, it's up to you to fix that. Pick a story that reflects your work, sure, but also one that resonates with the receiver.


The point is you are the protagonist of your own reality show. Take control of the script. What is the story you are trying to tell? 

Consider these facts:
The company Adobe now sources more than half of its new hires via LinkedIn. Tech companies report that a full two-thirds of corporations use Facebook to bring on new talent, and 54 percent of organizations use Twitter to learn more about a candidate. Companies now are actively trawling the www waters for interesting fish. To recruit. To reference check and to network. 

So they checked out your Linked-in, Facebook or Twitter pages– what do they see? 
Your Fly is Open

Is your virtual fly open? Don't be embarrassed because you didn't check. 🙂

Here are a few examples of what I saw last week:
  • Linked-in page with a job title for someone who was fired a year ago!
  • Bad photos, Not just unattractive but weird and quasi inappropriate
  • I Googled a 39 year old professional and nothing came up! Nothing. No Linked-in.
  • Bad photos!
A few quick reminders and suggestions to polish up the olde online brand:
  1. Google thyself-– Just to check what others see. 
  2. Get a Linked-in account--If you are a serious job networker you must have one and use one. 
  3. Update your social media sites–Keep them up to date or take them down. Just lunacy to see Linked-in sites that look abandoned and neglected–there goes your brand.
  4. Consider starting a blog or a personal website to actively post relevant videos, papers, opinions, articles that you have created. 

Conduct a quick audit. Develop a strategy for your story. Take control of your brand management. 

Visibility is the key to success. It always has been. Can't see you, can't promote, or hire you.
I use to give career talks about speaking more or writing more to enhance your brand and your opportunities. Still good advice. But today you have to also actively manage your virtual media company. Your visibility has to differentiate you not disqualify you.
It use to be said that all publicity is good publicity. But that is no longer the case. The only good "publicity" is the publicity that is accurate and advances your story.

Or you can tell me how busy you are and hope nobody notices. 

Rest assured people and companies are networking with you, without YOU–right now. So, is your virtual fly open? 

If you need more proof of this, see the great infographic from mashable below.
Thanks for reading. John

E-rep-infographic

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