The Daily Telegraph (UK) recently featured Reputation.com in an article entitled, “The Companies that Rewrite Your Web History.” Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik was quoted in the British newspaper for his words on the now globally-recognized concept of an online reputation. Said Fertik, “Who you are online is as important as who you are offline.” Unfortunately for those whose past has followed them along the channels of the World Wide Web (this number is large), there exists no dividing line between the point where an offline life ends and an online life begins. Seemingly by the minute, these two sides of our lives are becoming one and the same.
The Telegraph also quoted Michael Fertik in his expression that “the transparency of it [the Internet] has also produced a seriously problematic effect: the Internet threatens to invade almost everyone’s privacy.”
Young people have embraced social media sites as part of their IRL lives and many are actively creating and sharing content online. 93% of teenagers are online, according to the Pew Research Project “Teens and Social Media,” released at the close of 2007, and nearly two thirds of online teens are creative content producers. Whether this content takes the form of blogs, photo journals, or personal sites, young people are actively creating content online, and as Generation Y grows up this trend seems likely to continue.
How reliable is the Internet? Perhaps more importantly, how reliable does the average American assume the Internet to be? A new report from the Pew Research Project (released December 30, 2007) entitled “Information Searches that Solve Problems,” reveals a new trend in the way Americans solve their biggest problems. According to the report, when faced with a serious concern (be that concern financially based, a health concern, a government policy question, or any of 10 possible problems presented by the Pew Research Project) 58% of respondents replied that they had turned to the Internet as a trusted source of information. That’s compared to 53% (the second greatest percentage) of respondents who replied that, when faced with a pertinent question, they turned to professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, for answers.
As the Pew Research Project report shows, people with questions are turning to the Internet more than to alternative sources, including professional experts, family members, published articles, and government agencies. As Internet use grows, a trust in its relevance and reliability also increases in the psyche of the American public. With more and more people turning to the internet as a trusted source of information, it is important to make sure that one’s personal information accurate and relevant online.
