Start Managing Your Online Reputation

This morning, I decided to try one of the things which was suggested by Calvin; Webcamp KL community member, which was to:

What do you find when you google your past?

It’s definitely not the first time I’ve done this, but it’s been awhile since I did it. And when I started browsing, I went as deep in as 25 pages into Google’s search results. Through this exercise, I’d recommend any person who’s been online for more than 1 year to do it.

Just by searching my name, skipping my website and social media networks, I found some interesting things which I didn’t notice before.

You’re Not The Last Person on Earth

I found my name to be quite a common name. I found a local accredited lawyer with an office in JayaOne. A realty consultant whose company is based in Singapore and a few others.

Though I am me. A spaced out creative guy who co-founded a Malaysia web design company.

Know Who’s Talking About You

I knew a friend of mine who mentioned me in his article before. But what I didn’t know is, he may have written again about me - Web Design Is A Lowly Job? And participating in a professional organization such as BNI has taught me visibility is important.  So easy enough, I shared the article on my Facebook and tagged my friend to thank him.

However, there’s no guarantee everyone has a clean sheet. Which is why, this exercise can be very important to you. It gives you a chance to find out how you may have done good or bad to someone.

Give Thanks to People You May Have Missed

Some articles which mentioned me were of a social nature. For example, a friend on Twitter who said she knew about the SAD (Single Awareness Day) campaign when I mentioned it sometime ago.

It’s better late than never. So this gave me the opportunity to drop her a thank you note.

Don’t wait to hear someone tell you about it, Google your name or your business and see what comes out. Then, act on them appropriately.

Safety Decisions and Credibility on Foursquare

Foursquare is still my primary check-in tool when I’m moving around – despite Facebook Places. But I’d like to share with you how Foursquare influenced my safety decisions and how social media have had affected credibility during my last car service visit.

Foursquare tips protected me

I already had plugged in my laptop, connected my power, attached my mouse and other peripherals. But after I checked-in and read the tips above, I quickly packed my things and scurried to the line of customer service personnel. Mainly because I don’t want anything missing from my car later and have someone tell me, your belongings are your responsibility – though it’s within their premises.

I asked the person who took my case if I could get something from my car. Thankfully, it was still in line to be serviced. That’s an experience how Foursquare tips influenced my safety concerns.

Foursquare tips affects your credibility long term

They say bad word of mouth spreads faster than good. Well, I’d say it also leaves a longer impression than good. Because though the tips left behind may have aged, I still took it into serious consideration which influenced my decision.

The best advice I can give to any local business with an official premise is to search your name on Foursquare. You may be surprised to find it’s already in there – users can freely create it on Foursquare. But most importantly, make sure you read the tips and check your credibility.

SuveryMonkey Acquires Wufoo Forms

On April 25, SurveyMonkey announced in a press release they’ve acquired the form creator; Wufoo.

What is SurveyMonkey?

As the name partially describes it, without the monkey, it’s a web-based online survey creator. Some familiar brands using the service is Facebook, Autodesk, Campbell, Samsung and others.

What is Wufoo?

Because I use wufoo, I’m going to talk a little more about it. Simpleet started using Wufoo in 2009 when I learnt about it from…I don’t remember. But ever since Wufoo was created, it’s been really easy to use and I’ve followed it grow very quickly in the past 2 years.

From pure form creation into now being able to accept payments and I believe, even create surveys. Plus, Wufoo now integrates with popular service providers like CampaignMonitor, Mailchimp, Highrise, Freshbooks, Salesforce and others.

What MonkeyFoo now?

Okay. It may not be the brightest of titles. Anyway, I suppose this was the quickest way for SurveyMonkey to leap forward and offer more than just survey creation. After all, Wufoo already integrated with many services.

Google Offers Beta is Out

The group purchasing market opened by Groupon, with Living Social behind their tail are now both being pitted with newly launched Google Offers.

Good news for them though is Google Offers is in real beta and only available in selected areas. Quick side note, why I say real beta is because some solutions prefer to keep saying they’re in beta to communicate the meaning, they’re forever in development or improvisation.

In Malaysia, many Groupon clones have sprouted to claim their small part of the growing market for cheap deals. Just search Groupon clone and you’ll find a ton of out-of-the-box versions.

But let’s see what Google has to offer.

PostPost: Personal Facebook Aggregator

PostPost is plain awesome! It’s like taking the old Project Petaling Street and turning it into my daily newspaper, somewhat.

After logging in with your Facebook account, it collates (so canggih word) your feed from statuses, videos, images and links into a gallery. In their own words:

See what your friends think you should read in less than 30 seconds!

The layout too is really sweet as it caters to both common resolutions and wider devices. However, the only annoying behavior I felt about the website was the auto-loading of articles when you scroll to the bottom.

This should be a case study for user experience because they don’t have a main menu on the top and I’m unable to use the links in the footer because of the auto-load. At least, a sticky footer would’ve made the footer links more accessible.

Nonetheless, now I’m thinking why blog aggregators didn’t move towards this way. It would’ve been fantastic!