One of the most popular social networking websites that is available online right now is Gather.com. It’s headquartered in Boston, Massachussets and is home to around 465,000 registered members. Like most social networking sites, it is free to join. It is a massive community of people who are able to share links, photos, thoughts, and messages with each other. Each user gets a registered sub-domain to themselves.

hi5 is another social networking site, one of the most popular in the world. It has never really caught on in the United States, but it is very popular internationally, with over 80,000,000 users worldwide. The site is particularly popular in Latin America.

Each of these sites could be a vital tool to someone looking to improve their reputation management.

Viadeo is a professional social networking site that  is used in over 200 countries around the world and recent survey results have shown just how effective it has proven to be for professionals with 40% of people even securing job interviews thanks to social networks like Viadeo.

Viadeo is an extremely large social network and it is widely used by professionals and businesses from virtually every continent. It enables users to set up a profile, network with existing and potentially new contacts, and it allows individuals to search for new employment. Recruiters are also finding it an extremely powerful way to search for the best candidates to fill high profile jobs.

The social networking site can even lay claim to being the broadest reching professional social networking site boasting claims that it is used in 226 countries, five continents, and 322 industries. CEO and co-founder of Viadeo, Dan Serfaty said that more than 70% of its members are senior or middle level management making it an equally appealing destination for recruitment agencies and head hunters too. What’s more, they have the figures to back it up following an extensive survey of their users.

In the UK, 1 in 4 recruiters claim to have used Viadeo to find and recruit candidates for at least one position so if you’re looking for a high profile career then you should seriously consider registering with Viadeo.

Over 80% of business executives said that they used the site in order to develop their own business showing the worth and potential that the site has for professionals, job seekers, and just about anybody in professional industries.

Question and Answer sites can to some degree be considered social networking websites or social media sites. One user asks a question and other members who feel they can adequate answer the question do so. The original poster then has the chance to choose the most relevant or most accurate response and vote for that answer. The biggest complaint of sites like these is the same kind of criticism that has been levelled at wikis and other user edited content – there is no real way of qualifying whether a response has been written by somebody with relevant knowledge.

If you need the answer to a question then Q&A sites do still have some benefit as long as you take care before acting on the advice or response given. For professionals answering question, there is some benefit to be had with some of these sites too. Sites like Yahoo Answers can generate some good traffic if on the right topic and if the information provided is genuinely useful. It can also instil a sense of authority and expertise in those that read it, instantly increasing the amount of trust you garner from those readers.

A new breed of Question and Answer sites may be on the cards, too, in the shape of a more directed and qualified offering. As well as asking the question, posters can determine who is eligible to answer according to the information given in their profile. Question and Answer sites can also be useful for online reputation management as long as you ensure the site allows dofollow links in posts.

Digg is a site that has become very popular as a crowd-sourced news aggregator. What does this mean? Well, it is Internet democracy at its best. The front page is determined by voters–the articles with the most votes will make it to the front page. Each user can create a thread for people to vote for, and comment on, the article included. These threads move their way towards the top of the site by accruing interest from other voters. One can search for links by the top in the last day, by subjects like gaming or politics, or by the type of links–news, videos, images, etc.

Your profile on Digg will reflect how active you are. The more you vote, the more experienced you become. As a result, your reputation will increase within that network. Digg really is direct democracy in action. This social networking sites allows users with no audience to drive traffic to the links they have posted.

Twitter quickly became an online phenomenon that almost single-handedly launched the mobile blogging or moblogging platform. Almost everybody from singing celebrities to their star struck fans use the site to communicate with those that matter most to them. In the case of the individual user it means connecting with friends as well as businesses and celebrities. For the business user it can be a great way to manage an online reputation, build a brand, and deliver messages in a convenient and effective manner. But, the question is, can we learn anything from the way that celebrities use the site? Undoubtedly.

Justin Bieber, despite recent Twitter algorithm changes, remains one of the most discussed topics on the site. He has entire communities dedicated to him and his fans have an almost unbelievable level of control over the trends list. Following an algorithm chance that saw their adored singer disappear from the trends list, Tweeters changed their approach and blogged the name Bieber so often that he was quickly restored to top spot.

Twitter is also very useful for transmitting messages to fans and to potential clients. Following rumours that she is pregnant, singer and avid Tweeter Lily Allen used the service to inform her own fans that the rumours were untrue and that she isn’t pregnant.

Another sign of the popularity of Twitter is news that a new TV show based on Twitter account @shitmydadsays has been given the go ahead, will feature William Shatner, and will air this fall on CBS. How did William Shatner tell his fans of his latest part? Using Twitter, of course.

Much of the brand reputation management industry is focused on reactive solutions to problems instead of proactive solutions. The article linked below discusses four little-known tools for managing brands online. The article also mentions an interesting study by AdWeek which purports to calculate the value of a facebook fan.

The idea of brand management is growing and gaining momentum among the corporate and professional communities. Over the last two weeks, I have given three presentations on the topic to business and HR professionals and job seekers and received almost a dozen emails and phone calls. Bottom line is your reputation is everywhere and online is no different.Just recently, Ad Week released a monetary dollar figure attached to Facebook Fan (now Like) Pages. Based on Virtue’s research of their own clients, they determined the average value of a Fan is $3.60. This is the first ROI evaluation I have found that places a value squarely on a personal network. If your friend, fans, connections, subscribers, and followers are now being seen as having value.

The study is interesting, but certainly more study is needed on the topic. The tools that are mentioned, you’ll have to click the link to see them, are invaluable to companies looking to successfully manage their brand online.

http://www.ibtimes.com/contents/20100517/four-little-known-tools-managing-online-brand.htm

Newsine is a social news website that enables registered users to post news articles and general interest stories. The articles posted can include links to your website or blogs making it a valuable tool in any social networking or even article marketing campaign. It can be used by companies to help manage their online reputation too especially as it enables other users to comment on and discuss articles. It also has a number of useful features that make it worth adding to your list of social sites to use regularly.

Sites like Digg only enable you to add links to existing content while having your own blog or using sites like Blogger enable you to write and add your own posts. You can create your own channel or news column on Newsvine and this provides you with the means to add links to articles hosted on other sites as well as unique content hosted directly on the Newsvine website. Combining both of these can be a great way to make the most of a single account with regular updates for readers.

Newsvine does not concentrate on any specific topic or even general topics. You can find and indeed post articles and news pieces on absolutely any topic you wish from Internet marketing right through to football and politics. This means that you can use Newsvine in your reputation management campaign with great benefit regardless of the industry you serve, the products you sell, or the topics that interest you most.

Blogging can be a highly beneficial way of promoting a website, generating traffic, and improving the opinion of your potential clients and partners. The regular addition of naturally written content not only tends to mean a large number of keyword optimized pages but it also generates trust from others and subsequently more links to your blog. Blogging can also be used for Internet reputation management by burying negative online press and replacing those results with your own pages.

The links that you include in the blog are important. Keyword rich links are beneficial to improving search engine result pages but rather than using those that are relevant to your industry there are other keywords you should consider.

If you use your own name in any form of communication then you should research your full name and aliases to see what shows up. Use major search engines and consider using services like Google Alerts and Yahoo Alerts.

Potential clients will also search for your business name and any other names your business might use. What’s more, if you use a URL for your website that differs to your company name then you should research this too.

Other keywords to consider researching include the names of executives within your company, product names, and known brands. Leads will often research these names using the Internet because it is quick and easy. If you find negative results or you simply want to manage your reputation for the future then add links including all of these relevant keywords.

LinkedIn is a website where professionals, especially young professionals, can network with each other. The site enables users to create profiles which will then display pictures, resumes, work histories, etc. Various individuals can indicate what business they work for–the various people who work in that same business will then be connected to each other.

Signing up for LinkedIn is fairly easy and simple. The website is dynamic and easy to use once you are signed up too. Most importantly, the site is trust by Google. This means that when people search for your name on Google, your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things they will find. Nothing could be more professional than having LinkedIn appear at the top of your results. This is an important attribute for those who need help with their online reputation.

LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networking sites for professionals. It allows users to add a professional profile that includes details of their work experience and also enables them to link up with people they know through existing careers and previous ones. Naymz is being touted as a major contender to the crown of professional networking website.

Naymz does very well in search engine results. If you’re attempting to bury negative press from the search engine results and replace it with your own spin then using social networking sites that appear in search results is important.

Naymz enables you to view profiles of other users, including those people you don’t know. You can then connect with users that you don’t know. With LinkedIn and other professional networking sites, you have to know your connections in order to add them to your network.

Naymz is still a relatively new site, and doesn’t have anywhere near the number of users that LinkedIn is able to boast. It is also lacking in a Groups section which many users of other social networking sites find to be useful. However, its search results and promising features make it a beneficial site for joining and adding your profile.

There are certainly higher profile sites than Naymz but it is growing in popularity and as such it is likely to become a real player in the future. By signing up now and creating a profile you can potentially get ahead of the crowd and help manage your online reputation.