By Chris Lee

It seems that hardly a week goes by without at least one story surfacing about a staff member being sacked for a controversial Facebook status update or a sportsman’s tweet embarrassing their employers. Individuals and brands simply cannot escape their “Web shadow” – the things we say about ourselves online and the things others say about individuals or brands, whether it’s being tagged on a stag do photo, a critical review, or a member of staff posting irresponsible material on YouTube. Some of these aspects we have control over, others we do not.

With potential employers’ first port of call being search engines, managing ones Web shadow has never been more important. Antony Mayfield, a digital consultant for Brighton-based marketing agency iCrossing, has written a book on the subject called “Me and My Web Shadow”. NMK’s Chris Lee caught up with Mayfield to learn more.

Why do “Web shadows” matter?

The Web is part of everyday life for a lot of people, it’s a kind of sixth sense and it’s certainly a part of the way we behave socially and within business. Reaching for Google, Facebook or LinkedIn is the first thing we do when we want to know something about someone. If someone is looking for you, you need to understand what they will find. You need to understand your Web shadow, how you can influence it and play a part in what that looks like to the outside world.

What free or cheap tools can individuals and brands use to manage their Web shadow?

The most basic one, of course, is Google and Google Alerts. You need to understand what your Web shadow is to search for yourself on Google as if you were potential business partner, employer or member of staff.

There are some interesting services such as Pipl.com which will help you dig a little deeper, but Google is the best place to start.

How many companies have social media usage policies in place and what should a policy include?

A growing number have a policy in place. When I started at iCrossing four years ago very few companies had a policy. Those range from ‘stop-gap’ policies – those purely issued by HR department to limit risk on behalf of the company and give employees a legal responsibility to behave in a certain way online – and those more enlightened policies that treat employees as adults and just point out to them that the Web is a public space and they have responsibilities within it as if they were in a bar or conference.

I think even more importantly, companies should take some time – including HR, marketing and other functions in the business – to think about what the impact of the social Web is - and will be - on their people.

Social media is changing the way that people live and act in social networks and part of that includes professional social networks. Companies need to think about developing digital literacy.

What’s an example of when it’s gone badly wrong for a company and its Web shadow?

There are just so many. My mind always goes back to the Domino employees putting food into their noses then back in the salads and posting it on YouTube. The more interesting thing than the shock value of that case was how ignorance on behalf of the employees on what the Web was and how quickly they would be discovered by other people was compounded then by the organisation’s legal and corporate communications’ lack of understanding of how the social Web works. There was a delay in response; they tried to act as if they could get rid of this problem instead of responding in an open and adult way, which always compounds the issue.

Staff not having an appreciation of their personal Web shadow has an impact on the wider company’s reputation.

So what are your top tips for companies and individuals looking to manage their Web shadow?

The strongest tool that organisations have in the age of open social networks is an informed, literate and positive workforce. Making sure that everyone in the company understands how their personal reputation works will lead to [organisations] having a better overall reputation. Spreading digital literacy within an organisation is the best long-term strategy for managing the Web shadow of an organisation.

For the full interview, listen to the author’s podcast on managing your online reputation.