I also want to say thank you. Since launching 8 weeks ago, we’ve signed up over 100,000 users, thousands of premium members and received some truly flattering press coverage. We never imagined the product would take off like this, and we have our users to thank for it. So thank you.

Now to the good stuff: here’s what we released this month.

1. Find out when specific companies Google you.

Now when someone visits your BrandYourself profile (here’s mine), we can tell you how they found you, where they’re located, and literally where they work.

You’ll need a profile to see which companies are finding you, so log in if you already have one or sign up for a free account. Then just hover your mouse over any visitor on your Dashboard to see their company, like this.

2. Get smarter alerts when your search results change.

We added smarter alerts (ie., if one of your links rises onto or falls off of your first page), show your most important alerts on top, give clearer calls to action so you know exactly what to do, and let you customize which alerts you get.

Log in or sign up for a free account to check out our new alerts.

3. Easily share your accomplishments.

Many of our users like to share things — like their brandyourself profie, their search score, their search badges, etc. This isn’t just a cool thing to share with your friends, it actually helps your results, so you’ll notice tools that make it easier for you to share your most important information.

Log in or sign up for a free account to check out our improved sharing.

4. Other features we built that you asked for:

• We now support all international characters, so you can improve the search results for your name if it has non-english letters.
• You can now submit Flash websites as a URL, so you can track their rank and follow our steps to make them more search engine friendly.
• Log in and see what else is new!

So, what should we release next?

You asked, and we listened — most of the features above came from your direct feedback. So, what should we release next? Let me know in the comments below!

Today Facebook bought Instagram —an app that lets you take photos, make them look amazing and post them online from your phone–  for a staggering 1 billion dollars. Instagram was already becoming one of the most popular communities on the web, garnering an impressive 30 million users in just 15 months. Now, with the new Facebook integration, literally everyone is going to be on there.

What does that mean? Since its growing so fast, you can no longer ignore Instagram as an essential tool for growing your online reputation and personal brand, but only if you understand the ins and outs first as well as some of Instagrams biggest shortfalls.

 What is Instagram Really?

Well, it’s not just a way to share your pictures on Facebook or Twitter; it’s a powerful tool that literally puts some of the tools that professional photographers use onto your iPhone or Android.  You just snap a photo with your phone and then choose from more than a dozen filters  (such as an old school polaroid look or a professional glow. Check out some of the best instagram photos ever here for some examples.)

Instragram’s Biggest Shortfall: It won’t show up in Google

Instagram, when used correctly, is a great way to grow your personal brand by showing the world unique and engaging content about you. However, one huge shortfall of Instagram is the fact that you do NOT get a public profile that can show up as a search result when someone Google’s you.  Your friends will be able to view the photos that you post to your social networks- but the only way they’ll be able to see your Instagram profile is if they are using the Instagram app themselves. That means, when someone Googles your name they can’t find your awesome page.

How to work around Instagram’s Google problem

While Instagram doesn’t create a URL for Google, there are ways to create one using a third party app to make sure your photos show up when your name ig Googled. . Our favorite third party app is Followgram.me (for an example of what a Followgram.me looks like have a look at like: Trevor Elwell on Followgram.me).

Setting up your profile on Followgram.me is a snap!  Just go to Followgram.me, and click the button at the top of the page that says ‘Sign in via Instagram’.  From there all you have to do is verify your email address and share your new Followgram.me URL.

Now make sure your Instagram shows up at the TOP of Google

Once you have a URL, you want to make sure it shows up on the first page for your name (otherwise, what’s the point!) Here are some tips you can use

• Make sure your Instagram username is YOUR FULL NAME: If you stopped by my Followgram.me URL you may have noticed that my full name is in the URL.  This is because my Instagram username is ‘TrevorElwell’.  

***Note: This step needs to be completed before you create your followgram.me profile

• Make sure your name is in your Instagram bio: Since Followgram.me pulls your Instagram bio, it’s important that you include your full name in your bio if you want it to be search engine friendly.

• Connect your Followgram.me URL to your BrandYourself profile: If you haven’t already signed up for a free BrandYourself profile, go ahead and get started.  Once you’ve created your BrandYourself profile go to the ‘submit links’ section and link up your Followgram.me URL so that you can start optimizing your new link!

• Consider adding your name to the description of your photos: One last thing to consider is to add your name to the description of your Instagram photos.  Since this information gets put online by Followgram.me it might be beneficial to include your name in this description.

For those of you who’ve been following, we competed last week as one of the finalists in the annual SXSW start-up accelerator competition. SXSW is the largest web tech conference in the world, with over 20,000 attendees coming from around the globe to learn and demonstrate the latest innovations in web, media and marketing technologies. The Startup Accelerator is one of the main staples of the event, where people watch some of the latest startups present their proucts and technologies in front of a panel of judges made up of celebrities and succesful tech veterans.

This year, 40 finalists out of a pool of 650 companies competed in the Accelerator, separated into 8 different categories. Each category competed against each other in front the crowd/judges until a final list of 18 startups were chosen to present in the finals.  At the end of the competition, the judges chose an award winner for each category and then an overall award winner for the best overall “booststrapped” start up in the competition, meaning the company who’s made the most progress with the most promise given the resources of a startup.

We were named the overall winner of the Best Boostrapped Startup in SXSW. We were hoping to win the award for our category but certainly not expecting to win the overall award.

This is a testament to our product, but, more than anything else, to the important problem we solve for people. We couldn’t imagine a better way to end the first week after our launch. We are more excited then ever to keep moving forward withour product and putting it in more people’s hands.

Other Cool Stuff about SXSW

• We were also named one of the top 5 apps at SXSW by PCWorld and Macworld
• A bunch of places picked up our win: Here are our two favorite (Here and here)

I’m excited to announce that we’ve officially launched our new product: the only do-it-yourself platform that makes it easy for anyone to take control of their own Google results.

1) You Can Sign Up For Early Access to Our New Product

As loyal readers, we want to let you be some of the first to try the new product before we launch it in March. Head over to the completely new BrandYourself and add yourself to our early-access list. .

The first DIY platform that makes it easy for anyone to take control of their own Google results

The new product gives everyone the power to ensure positive, relevant results show up at the top of their results — without needing any technical knowledge or being forced to pay traditional reputation firms thousands of dollars a year to do it for them. And it’s free!

You simply submit any positive links you want showing up at the top of Google — your Linkedin Profile, a personal website, an article written about them, etc. — and use our simple tools to Search Engine Optimize those links and help them rank higher, burying unwanted results.

2) Expect More Posts!

Starting next week we’ll be getting back on a schedule of posting multiple times a week. The content will be much more targeted around making sure you look as good as possible in google (i.e how to bury something negative in Google, how to make your Facebook show up as high as possible, etc)

- Pete, Head of Product at BrandYourself

Have you ever Googled somebody’s else’s name to find out more about them? How about Googling your own name?

Today, Google is the first place we turn to learn more about another person. To put this in perspective, there are 3 billion searches a day on Google and 77% of job recruiters are required to do a Google pre-screen before hiring you. So in short, if you haven’t Googled yourself, somebody has.

It’s your responsibility to ensure you make the best impression possible when that person searches you. Obviously you want to avoid negative content, but just as importantly, if you aren’t represented by well-branded, positive content, you are missing out on an important opportunity to make a lasting first impression.

This series has been written to walk you through each step towards owning your own search results and managing your online reputation.  It will help you create and raise your best content to the top of your search results, and push unwanted content (negative, irrelevant or other people) farther down. Or, as we like to say, a guide to making search engines your b**ch.

Part 1 of the series: Diagnose Your Google Ranking

The first step to controlling any situation is determining whether or not you have a problem, and if so, knowing how bad it really is. So in Part 1 of this series we are going to help you diagnose your Google ranking, no matter how good or bad it might be, so you can begin to take corrective action.

Step 1: Google Yourself 

The very first thing you need to do is go to Google and type your name into the search bar. Important:

• Sign out of your Google Account. Google employs personalized and local searches when you are signed into your account. In other words, Google will slightly alter your results to make them more relevant to you based on your location and what they know about you through your Google account. The person searching you won’t have this, so you are better off getting neutral results.
• Enter the name people will actually use to search you: Do you use your middle name or initial on your resume?  Did you recently acquire a hyphenated last name? When you search for yourself online, be positive that you’re using the name that people are going to be searching for you with! This also brings up the important point of consistency: when you use your name online, on a resume, anywhere for that matter, be sure that you are using the same name- and make sure that it’s the one that you want to rank for.

Step 2: Diagnosis- Which Google Ranking Category Are You?

Once you see your results it’s time to figure out which category you fall under. Decide which of these categories best represents your first page of results. It may be a combination of them all. Tip: Concentrate on your first page because 93% of searchers never go past the first page. They use the first 10 to form their impression.

• The Negative Category: This is the worst category to be in because it means you have one or more negative results representing you. This category it not just reserved for criminals and politicians, either. In today’s world of social networking and anonymous sharing- it is disturbingly easy to have your reputation tarnished. It takes only one status update, tagged photo or blog post from a pissed-off ex, former employee or wild friend, to put you in this category.
• The Irrelevant Category: Yes the results are about you, but they don’t really help or hurt you. They are completely outdated and irrelevant. Instead of finding out you are one of the most well-respected doctor’s in Boston, the person finds out you finished 120th in a 5k run three years ago.
• The “Hey That’s Not Me” Category: In this case, your results are dominated by somebody or multiple people with your name. In a best case scenario, they simply prevent the searcher from finding anything meaningful about you. In a worst case scenario they might actually mistake you for someone else, like our Co-founder Pete who couldn’t get a job in college since he was being mistaken for an ex-con.
• Positive & Relevant: This means your results are full of positive, well-branded content about you. This also means you are one of the very few people who have a strong grasp on their results, or you are some sort of celebrity. So this probably isn’t you

Step 3: Figure Out How Much Work You Have Ahead and Make a Plan

Once you know where you stand, it’s time to be proactive and start improving your search results. Your goal is to fill your first page with as many positive results as possible.  Depending on your web presence, you can figure out how much work lays ahead and plan accordingly.

• You Have No Web Presence, and No Content:  The first thing you need to do is build your online presence for Google. Quite simply, if you don’t’ have any positive content, there is no way for it to show up on your first page. If you haven’t done this, read Part 3 of our Series: Building your foundation presence for Google Coming Soon
• I Have Specific Content I Want to Push Higher: You might already have a personal website, a LinkedIn profile, or other content you want people to find, but they just aren’t  showing up high in search results. You need to read Part 4: Advanced Tactics for your Google Ranking. Coming Soon
• I Have Specific Content I Want to BURY:  Perhaps you have something unflattering out there about you, or you’re also being mistaken for an ex-con. You need to read Part 4: Emergency Tactics, when search engines make your their Bi*ch article, which will walk you through the most effective ways to get unwanted content off the first page. Coming Soon

Conclusion:

Today, it is just plain irresponsible to be passive about your Google results. You spend a lot of time building your reputation- you do good work, you treat others well, you make sure that you’re dependable. It’s time to apply that same discipline to your online presence. The rest of our Make Search Engines Your B**ch series which will cover everything from the basics to advanced tactics for controlling your search results. Take a look below for the full list of articles coming up in the series.

• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 2:  Intro to Personal Search Engine Optimization
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 3: Building the Foundation of Your Online Presence for Google
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 4: Emergency Tactics to Repair Your Online Reputation
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 5: Advanced Tactics to Boost Your Google Ranking
• ***These articles will be released on a weekly basis- we will include links once they are published:

If you’re finding this series helpful, you might be interested in signing up for BrandYourself’s online reputation management tool for free. It makes it easy to get your best content on the first page of Google and monitor your progress. Want to sign up for early access?

• Sign up for early access
• Give us a call at (315) 723-2056 and we’d be more than happy to help you get your personal brand on the ball.

As always, please let us know if you have any further ideas on how to diagnose your online reputation by leaving some comments below- have a good one!

We were all taught that a firm handshake, professional attire and a strong resume were the necessary pillars of a good first impression, right? Well today that is no longer enough. With the advent of social media, making an unforgettable first impression in-person is no longer the only thing you need to worry about.

From Twitter to Facebook to Google, our personal brands are in the spotlight everyday for everyone to see online. Are you putting your best foot forward? Are you making the impression you want? This has spawned a new set of ideas and tactics known as Personal Branding.

This article will walk you through the basics of personal branding as well as some of the best tips and practices.

What is Personal Branding?

1) Personal Branding DO’s

• Define Your Brand: Take the time to soul search and determine exactly who you are and what makes up your personal brand. See our 10 steps to define your unique personal brand for help.
• Communicate Your Brand: Make sure you are effectively able to communicate that brand clearly and concisely. A concise personal bio is essential for this step. For help with your bio, read our personal branding guide to writing a professional bio. 
• Start Building Your Online Presence: You’re being Googled. By employers, by colleagues and even first dates. Building a basic online presence that can promote your image and support your personal brand is therefore essential. For more on this step, stay tuned next week for the second part of our “Make Search Engines Your B**ch” series titled “Build a basic online presence for Google.”
• Become Visible: You want to make sure your branded content is what people find when they Google your name. This can be a difficult feat unless you are well versed in search engine optimization, however, the 4th article in our  ”Make Search engines your b**ch” series will be highlighting some advanced tactics to control your Google results.

2) Personal Branding DO NOT’s

• Fabricate or Exaggerate:  Personal branding is not a means to lie about your qualifications and doing so will absolutely hurt you in the long run.
• Leave Out the PERSONAL Aspect:  As much as people want to hear about your professional accomplishments- they also want to understand your personality.  Don’t be afraid to inject your sense of humor, your hobbies, interests, etc… the things that make you, you.
• Have ANY Inconsistencies: Your core message (as it is outlined in your personal bio) should be communicated the same in every medium, especially online. That means using similar wording across all of your online accounts, the same headshot everywhere and the same avatar.

Why Should You Care About Personal Branding?

1) Personal Branding Can Help Your Career:

Personal branding is necessary for any professional – but let’s look at job applicants as an example:

Job applicants: if you think that the first time you’re meeting a recruiter or potential employer is during an interview then you need to think again. You two have met before, in the online world.  Recruiters are turning away from more traditional methods and searching for applicants through social media and search engines. One of the biggest mistakes that a job candidate can make is having an inconsistent personal brand. Many people think as long as they don’t have negative content, they are in the clear. However, recruiters are looking for a postive, consistent brand that they believe lines up with their company culture.

“Recruiters are hired to eliminate candidates from the pool,” said Joshua Waldman, Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies author and Career Enlightenment blog creator. “This means they are not only trained to find red flags, if your personal brand is inconsistent, that’s the surest way to the maybe pile. So thinking about your branding message BEFORE filling out social media profiles is extremely important.” In short, have a strong brand online and you will stand out from the competition.

2) Personal Branding Can RUIN Your Career

It goes without saying that a negative brand can hurt you. However, most people don’t appreciate how easy it is to end up with a bad brand!

Everything you do or say on the web represents you. “What goes onto Facebook is on there forever,” said Rasmussen. “You need to make self-aware decisions of what you put online impacts your personal brand and reputation immediately and irrevocably… so the key is to be cautious, consistent, and conservative.” Rasmussen also stressed the importance of not posting anything online that you would be ashamed of if a prospective employer saw it. Even though they might never see it, why take the risk?

One great (and kind of hilarious) example occurred over the summer of 2009 when an employee went on a rant and called her boss a… well why don’t you find out for yourself.  Not exactly the smartest way to use your social networks- but thanks for the laugh on your behalf!

Conclusion

One thing is clear: your online reputation is just as important as your off-line reputation. While having a negative personal brand will hurt you, taking the time to build a positive, consistent brand on the web will actually help you!

Now that you’ve read the information, can you answer the question what is personal branding?  Or more specifically, what is personal branding TO YOU? Please leave any comments or tips below- and if you have any questions feel free to send me an email.  Now get out there and control your brand!

The Online Reputation Checklist

You have seven seconds to make a first impression, and your time starts the moment your name is typed into a search bar. To put this in perspective, 80 million names are Googled daily, 77% of employers do a Google pre-screen on applicants, and 35% of these employers eliminate candidates based on negative content.

This new step in the hiring process can spell trouble for applicants, but follow our checklist below and you can turn this threat into a huge opportunity!

• Google Yourself

What do you find? Almost everyone falls into three troubling categories that our checklist will remedy:

• Negative Content: An unnoticed tagged photo, a post by a disgruntled ex-colleague or spouse, or even an impulsive 4 a.m. tweet can spell disaster for your online reputation, and your job search. With the right strategy you can replace undesirable content with positive results, pushing the negative stuff out of sight.
• Low-ranking content: What good is your LinkedIn profile or personal website if potential employers cant see it? Many people work hard to create a positive online presence, but when you Google their name, none of it shows up. This makes employers think that you are inexperienced or unimpressive, you’ve just missed a huge opportunity to stand out in a very crowded job market.
• No content at all: If you have nothing about you on the web, employers will assume that you’re irrelevant and inexperienced. Continue with the checklist to quickly create positive, visible results.

• Buy Your Domain Name:

This is a crucial first step because a domain name is the first thing that Google considers when it ranks search results. Purchasing from services like Godaddy or Register.com is a cheap and easy way to own your domain. If someone else already has your name, try using your middle initial or purchasing a .net or .org (the two best ranking extensions behind “.com”)

• Create a Personal Website:

One good way to show your value and relevancy as a candidate is by blogging. With a blog you can show your  expertise in the industry, while also giving employers a better feel for who you are as an individual, since your voice and personality will come through in your writing.

If you don’t have a personal website yet, here are some great, free site builders that tend to rank high in search engines:

• WordPress
• Tumblr
• Blogger

• Create Professional Networking Profiles

You probably already use social networks, but they might not be working to your advantage professionally. Amber Rinehard, Global Community Manager at Text 100, provided the following practical ideas for professional social networking success:

• Use Your Facebook Privacy Settings (!!): Your potential employers went to college once too, so they know what type of antics go down – but that doesn’t mean they want to see it! Make sure your Facebook photos are set to private, or better yet- don’t let people take incriminating photos of you in the first place.
• Tweet Responsibly: Take a look at your Twitter stream ask yourself, what would an employer think if he or she read my updates? Even if you use Twitter for personal versus professional reasons, it’s important to come off as professional and relevant- and yes, employers look at your spelling and grammar. Jump into relevant industry conversations by participating in a tweet chat or strike up a conversation with influencers in your industry via @ reply.
• Build a Complete LinkedIn Profile: Even if you don’t have a ton of experience yet, employers will see that you take your professional opportunities seriously. Ask your professors, peers, or former employers to provide recommendations for your profile.

• Register with High-Ranking Directories:

Services like BigSight, Zerply, and BusinessCard2.com are the “yellow pages” of the Internet. They will help those Googling you find you more easily because your results will rank higher, and they only take a few seconds to set up. (IMPORTANT: be sure to link from these directories to your most relevant content online such as your personal website.)

• Boost Your Info to the Top of Search Engines

By following this checklist you can ensure you exist in all the right places online, but what good is all this  content if employers cant find it when they search for you?  In our follow up post we are going to show you how to actually boost those profiles to the top of search engines. In the meantime, check out this great beginners’ guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you have anything to add to the online rep checklist, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below.

By Chelsea Wagner, Blogging Intern at BrandYourself

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Trevor Elwell recently released this post on Social Media Today.  This article will provide you with the knowledge that you need to get your Facebook profile to rank on the first page of Google for your name, Enjoy!

Facebook and Google are Friends?

Since your Facebook profile has so much personal information about you, it’s probably best for you to hide it away in a corner of the Internet where no potential employer, customer, or date can find it right?  Wrong. You can use Facebook and Google to make yourself more marketable if you use them in the right ways. Exposing and publicizing your Facebook allows you to show a more personal side to your employers, seem more well rounded, and prove that you aren’t hiding anything from them. Best of all, Facebook profiles are perfect pieces of content to easily boost up to the top of Google- a great way to bolster your online reputation.  So let’s get started:

Step One: Clean Up Your Profile

Let’s face it, your Facebook profile isn’t exactly the cleanest thing in the world (as in, it doesn’t exactly put you in the best light)- you’re going to have to do a little work to get it up to snuff. Go ahead and remove those harming pictures, curse-word-filled status updates, and videos of you at 5AM signing “Small Town Girl”.  Trust me, these are necessary measures on your quest to conquer Facebook and Google.

Step Two: Change Your Privacy Settings to Public

If your friends can’t find you, how can search engines?  It’s very simple to go into your Facebook settings and make your profile “Public”.  You are still able to restrict access to some of your content, but in order for a search engine like Google to find and rank your profile you need to make it available to the public.

Step Three: Use Your Actual Name

Do your buddies call you “T-Smooth” or Dave “Danger” Lewis?  Even though your nickname is probably awesome, it should stay between you and your friends and shouldn’t make it’s way onto the Internet.  Using your real name on social networks like Facebook allows potential employers, customers, and even dates to easily find you when they search for you on Facebook and Google. Your nickname may give you and your friends a few laughs but everyone else won’t be in on the joke and might not be able to find you.  With this step, make sure you keep your name consistent as well!  Even though Trevor Elwell and Trevor R. Elwell are very similar, in the eyes of search engines they are very different- use the name that people will be searching for you with.

Step Four: Don’t Forget Your Vanity URL

A simple way to boost up your Facebook page on Google is to get your vanity URL. If you go to your account settings you will easily be able to change this.  A vanity URL is a URL with your name in it (for instance facebook.com/AboutTrevorElwell) .  If “Facebook.com/YourName” isn’t available then make sure that you use some variation of it like I did.  The important thing is keeping your name in the URL and in the same order (as in nothing in between your first and last name).  This is probably the single most powerful way to get your Facebook page to rank on Google.

Step Five: Links!

You have a Twitter and a LinkedIn on top of your Facebook and Google profiles, but are you linking between your profiles?  Google loves to see inbound links- and a very easy way to get them is to utilize the profiles that you already have set up!  Link to your now-public Facebook profile from all of your other social networks and make sure to include your name in the link text (for instance “Trevor Elwell on Facebook“ would be a good link but “Trevor Elwell on Facebook“ would not).

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, all the tips that you need to get your Facebook profile to the top of search results.  If you have any more ideas please feel free to let me know in the comments section below, good luck!

We will also talk about “Safe Sharing” to help your kids avoid posting something online as youngsters that can effect their online reputation for the rest of their life.  So without further adieu, let’s get started describing the problem.

How To Spot a Creeper

“OMG did Melanie just friend you?  She’s so cool- she loves Selena Gomez almost as much as I do!”  Melanie sounds like a cool girl, except for the fact that Melanie is actually a 57 year-old man from Omaha Nebraska.  You see, it’s pretty easy to make a new profile on any social network including Facebook and Twitter.  It’s even easier to input false information into the site as well.  The problem is, children don’t always know how to spot the tell-tale signs that someone is not who they say they are and could end up talking to someone who they probably shouldn’t.  Here are some easy ways to spot a false account:

All Friends No Followers

Does the person who just followed you on Twitter follow 10,000 other people and only have 2 people following them?  Does the person who just friended you on Facebook have one friend and nothing written on their wall?  If you answered yes to either of these questions then you most likely have a stalker (or a very poor brand) on your hands.  What they tend to do is create a profile and send out a lot of “feelers” to see who will bite.  If your son or daughter friends them back, it’s a signal to the weirdo that they don’t know much about online privacy and they can exploit them.  Explain that it’s best to stay away from these types.

No Profile Information

Most people input at least a little bit of profile information when they create an account on social networks, this way they can find people that they’re friends with in those networks.  When a creeper creates a social profile they tend to leave out a whole lot of information because, well, they don’t have actual information.  Make sure your kids are on the lookout for profiles that skimp in the information department.

Lots of Links

Did the last five things that this person sent out include a link to a website to win a free iPad?  In case you couldn’t figure this on out yourself: profiles that share links int his manner are probably just trying to spam people and aren’t actual people.  Even though this person most likely isn’t going to be stalking your children, giving up information to these characters can easily result in your child’s or your profile being targeted by other scams or crazies.

Chat Rooms and Forums

Even though programs like AIM have dropped in popularity in recent years, it’s important that your child knows how to safely navigate through the various new chat rooms that have recently emerged.  The basic rules go a little bit like this: if your child is below the high school years they probably shouldn’t be on chat rooms that utilize video (See Chatroulette’s Penis Problem) because they are a hotbed for creepers of all walks of life.  For other chat rooms that allow simple text-chatting it’s pretty easy to follow this one rule: if you know who you’re chatting with then feel free to act normally, otherwise (if you don’t know the person) then use a filter.  By “use a filter” I mean that you shouldn’t give any any personal information and think carefully about what information you’re sharing in your discussion.

Even though chat rooms aren’t as popular as they once were, it’s still important that you know the problems that are associated with them.

Privacy Settings/Sharing Personal Info

A big problem with children on social networks is that they don’t always know who they should friend/follow and who they should ignore.  This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that children also don’t usually know how much information is “too much information” when it comes to social networks.  The equation is pretty standard: TMI + Bad Followers = Potential Disaster.

Make sure that your kids know that there is some information that they can tell to their friends (where your going after school, your phone #, etc.) and that this information should not be shared in a public fashion.  As a parent, you should probably dictate what information you’re comfortable with your children sharing and what information they should leave out of the picture. Luckily most social networks let you control who sees the information you put out, and even give you the ability to share different information depending on how close you are with certain groups of friends or family.  Go through the Twitter privacy settings and read Mashable’s Facebook Privacy Guide with your child and help them understand why they should utilize these privacy settings and why they’re important.

Having The Talk

Now that you know the information, the fun part is actually sitting down and having the conversation with your child.  It’s important that they know you aren’t telling them to stay off of social media, but rather that you’re encouraging them to do so in a safe way.  Here are the key takeaways from this article:

• Only Friend Friends: A good rule of thumb is that if they aren’t friends with them in real life, then they probably shouldn’t be friends with them online.
• Become The Expert: If you don’t already have accounts on prominent social networks then get one with your child! (You’ll both be learning and you can monitor as well)
• Monitor Privacy Settings: Make sure your kid’s privacy settings are properly configured on all of their social networks (read Twitter’s privacy settings and Mashable’s Facebook Privacy Guide).
• Know The Enemy: Know how to spot a creeper and make sure your children do as well.
• The Chatroulette Effect: Video chat rooms and children do not mix.
• Be Open: Let your children know how  much personal information you’re comfortable with them sharing online (and with whom)

In sum, the best policy when it comes to these things is to be honest with your children.  Don’t be afraid to tell them that what they say on these social networks can stay with them for the rest of their lives- you don’t want them to tarnish their online reputation before they even know that they have one.  Good luck, and if you have any more tips or advice for us please let us know in the comments section below.

Stay tuned for our future How To Have “The Talk” articles- We’ll be talking about Sharing/Etiquette, Cyber Bullying, and How to Control Your Online Reputation.