With all of the privacy changes to Facebook and the growing ease of finding people online, one of the growing areas of business is something called “online reputation management.”  The idea behind it is simple: you want to control how people see you online.  We probably all have embarrassing pictures of ourselves from some point in our lives (mine mostly involve the chicken pox).  Do we really want a future employer to see that?

So companies are making a lot of money offering services to “manage your online reputation”.

Usually the advice they give is something like this.

1. Be careful what you say online
2. Control the content your friends put online about you
3. Actively promote yourself online in places like LinkedIn or Facebook

Those are all good things to do.  Certainly there’s nothing wrong with asking your estranged Uncle Philip to stop talking about alien abductions on your Facebook Wall or asking an old college buddy to take down those pictures of you after your 21^st birthday.

But is this really the right approach?

To me it seems like a lot of work.  It takes a lot of effort to cover up all your imperfections.  So why not live your life open?  Why not work at making yourself a better person instead of hiding the skeletons in your closet?  If you’ve got to work somewhere, why not work where you can make a long term impact?

Let’s face it; people like Tiger Woods and Ben Roethlisberger have been rocked by scandal.  If they, and their millions, couldn’t protect their reputations, how likely is it that you can protect yours?

Of course it’s not just about avoiding trouble.  It’s about making a difference.  When we live a life of consistency other’s notice.  We aren’t one person on Facebook and another person in the office.  We’re the same person no matter who we are talking, and no matter where we are “existing.”  How much trust do you think people have in you when they know you act one way at work, and another way at home?

Will this attitude lose us out on some clients or maybe even a job?  Possibly.  But isn’t it worth it to not worry about what someone’s going to say about you in some far reaching corner of the internet?

Life is too short to worry all the time.

photo provided by flickr user vagawi