Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: Non-Boring, Fluff-Free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business

Chapter 12. Your Reputation in the Transparent World We Live in: Doing Business Now Is Like Being on Camera 24/7

Smile, you're on camera!

Back, even 10 years ago, people could get away with being douche bags (I know, nice choice of language). Why? Because there were only a few ways they could be "outed" for being jerks.

Perhaps the local newscast picked up something stupid that person did. Or the individual was arrested. Or someone complained to a friend about them over coffee. The outlets for transparency were limited. Only certain people had a voice.

With the Social Web, Everyone Has a Voice

Some voices are large and in charge. Some are a little quieter. But everyone has a say. Instantaneously. Think about this shift for a second. Let's pretend a few years ago you had a bad experience at a restaurant. What could you do? You could tell your friend Jane next time you saw her. E-mail a few friends. Write a letter to the editor of the local food publication. You could do it pretty quickly in private (e-mail, in person) or super slowly in public (letter to the editor).

Now you could tweet it, Yelp it, Facebook it, blog it, make a video about it, whatever. And you can do it as privately or as publicly as you want ... in a blink of an eye.

The reality is that this shift is going to continue. More people are blogging. More people are on social media sites. More people have a voice. More people are creating and posting instantaneous video with pocket cameras and phones. The world has never been, ...