Based on the following letter we received from a friend of IntelliGrad via Myspace, today we will look at Reputationdefender.com, a new start-up with a goal of keeping your reputation CLEAN online:
Hey,Great group! I’m thinking of applying to med school but as a myspacer, I’ve been a little worried about my myspace rep getting in the way of admissions and stuff. Apparently admit officers do websearches and they can dig up dirt on you. Well actually my mom is more worried about the supposed dirt on me than anyone else. So she found this site www.reputationdefender.com and signed me up for it. You know anything about it?
-Kiki
ReputationDefender.com was started by Harvard Law School graduate and a former presidential campaign speech writer, plus they boast an advisory board including a Law Professor, MIT grads, and other notables.
Q: How can this service help me?
ReputationDefender.com tracks mentions of you across the internet. Specifically, they monitor a range of social networks including MySpace, Facebook, Xanga, Bebo plus blogs, news sites, and media sharing sites like Flickr, Webshots, Photobucket and YouTube. Each month you are emailed a monthly update showing what they’ve found.
One the report has flagged something that you find ‘offensive’ or wish to have removed, ReputationDefender.com promises to correct or destroy the information, This is where the lawyers come in to provide the ‘muscle’ necessary for ‘good negotiation skills’ with site publishers. That said, some lawyers have a talent for sending scary emails (thanks Mashable!)
ReputationDefender.com is a paid service, with reports starting at $9.95/month if you pay for 2 years in advance, $12.95/month for one year and $15.95/month for six months. They also charge $29.95 for every piece of info you want deleting.
Thus far the reviews seem positive. If anyone has any experience with using this service, we’d be very interested to hear your thoughts, since a ‘clean reputation’ is a major cause of concern these days for young people in the early stages of their careers.