Online Reputation, the digital identity

For many readers, it is new frame of mind to realize how the digital and real world are colliding. In my case, I’ve been thinking about this for over a decade.

It was originally a serious set of questions when I was working with TMP Worldwide (and through them Monster.com)

When Monster.com came into existence, it really marked an era when the web became tied to our professional lives. The change didn’t happen overnight. It tooks years and years for recruiters and corporate giants to adopt new ideas, slowly and steadily trying to integrate changing fundamentals of online communication.

For most of the 90’s, the digital consumer was arguably led by the digital business.

Then something happened: in the past few years the digital consumer became the leader. Corporations no longer updated consumers, but consumers are now updating (more like demanding) changes to the way business is done.

This causes a lot of problems.

Most of the problems revolve around business decision makers not “getting it.”

This is often a story that I hear from other professionals in the social media / new media / digital space. At least 3 -4 times a month I have conversations with large groups of professionals who share the frustration of critical business elements being thrown away (or worse, being given to a competitor.)

One of the local groups (Social Media Club Seattle, disclaimer: I’m a board member) has monthly meetings with 150 to 250 attendees. Roughly a quarter of them are experts in the digital field (agencies, consultants, executives) and the other attendees are often professionals trying to learn effective ways of using “all this stuff.”

In an effort to educate them, I’ve been working on more and more comparison pieces to connect the dots. I hope some of the situational comparisons work for you.

Ideas from today: