The impact of our digital life on our identity and reputation

10 February 2008 by Olivier Zara.

I. What is a digital life?

By opening up a brand new space, the Internet allows us to sometimes lead another life, one very different from our day to day existence, a digital life! We create this digital life every time we use the many Internet services available to us, services which may not have any real-world counterpart. Here are some examples of the actions we can perform, and interactions we can engage in, thanks to the internet:

- Content publishing: blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, citizen journalism (NowPublic, OhMyNews, Agoravox,…), collaborative encyclopedias (Wikipedia), platforms for collaborative FAQ’s (Yahoo! Answers, Google Answers) ;

- Content sharing: photos (FlickR), videos (YouTube, Dailymotion…), music or links (del.icio.us) ;

- Publishing of reviews about products, services, performance (TripAdvisor, Epinions, …) ;

- Social networking: centered on a particular theme (motorcycles, cooking, games,…) ; for professionals (LinkedIn, Ryze, Ecademy, Viadeo, Xing…) ; for everyone (MySpace, Facebook, Orkut,…) ;

- Online purchasing through sites such as Amazon or eBay with payment systems such as Paypal ;

- Job searching (Monster, Stepstone,…), online posting of résumés (eMurse) ;

- Dating sites (eHarmony, Match, Meetic…) ;

- Online gaming sites (World of Warcraft, Everquest,…) or virtual universes (SecondLife, There, Habbo Hotel,…).

Everytime we use these different services, we each leave behind a « trail ». Certain aspects of this trail, such as when we give our opinion of a Mexican Hotel through TripAdvisor, are neutral or innocuous. Other aspects, however, can have a tremendous impact on our life (our non-digital life!), not only in terms of identity but of reputation as well.
This impact can be positive: increased recognition (more people come to know your identity) or positive reinforcement of your reputation (communication of information likely to benefit you reputation).
This impact can also be negative: identity theft (an impersonator may misuse your financial accounts by using your own identifying data) or destruction of your reputation (rivals may resort to slander and defamation for example,…).

II. Your digital life is neither more nor less dangerous than your real life!

Faced with the dangers of identity theft, we could choose to no longer share identifying information over the Internet. But this would deprive us of the use of many, very helpful services. On real-world highways, we follow the rules of the road in order to avoid accidents. Similarly, we should follow safe-surfing rules to navigate securely the Net’s information highways. Unfortunately, most people remain unaware of these rules. An upcoming blog post will feature some of these rules. Leaving your identifying information on the Internet is no more dangerous than getting into your car, provided that you know how to drive! Besides, there are tools and techniques to help us protect our most sensitive personal data. We will discuss those again on this blog.

Faced with the risks of leaving a trail that may harm your reputation, you could choose to publish absolutely nothing or only do so anonymously. Unless you are retired, enjoying the benefits of lifetime-guaranteed employment (bureaucrats,…) or working in a field where your reputation is not at stake, you would be making a mistake. The worst that can happen to you is not that you leave behind a trail that may harm your digital reputation. The worst would be leaving no trail at all, meaning not having any digital reputation. 77% of recruiters go online to research potential hires. 7% of all queries handled by search engines deal with a person’s name.

Not having a digital reputation could be interpreted in the following ways as:

- A lack of transparency
- A refusal to share information
- Someone without anything to say
- A technophobe
- Risk averse

Having a digital reputation means being transparent, showing your ability to share information, expressing ideas or opinions, using the information technologies that are core competencies of today’s companies and organizations, and using your capacity for risk taking or your own initiative.

The day is fast approaching when the choice between two candidates will come down to how easily their reputation can be evaluated, with the losing party having the more difficult one to evaluate. This blog will present numerous tools and methods to help you manage your digital reputation by showcasing the positive aspects of your digital life.

III. Digital life Vs Digital identity Vs Digital reputation

Our digital life impacts our identity and our reputation. If you surf around the blogosphere, however, you’ll see that digital reputation is often associated with digital identity and vice versa. Take for example Dick Hardt, CEO of Sxip Identity, who explained during a 2005 conference that “identity=reputation”. Yet, a cat is not a dog even if both are animals. Mars is not Jupiter even if both are planets. Identity can not be equated with reputation even if both are dimensions of our digital lives. The dictionary defines identity as: “The set of legally recognized or recorded attributes by which a person is known” which is altogether different from the definition of reputation. Digital identity experts (much like many of their fellow experts for that matter!) have the tendency to view the world through the lens of their own expertise… How terribly human

What links reputation and identity?

It can be argued that before we can evaluate someone’s reputation, we need to be sure that this person is in fact whom he/she claims to be. But what would be the point of constructing a genuine reputation on the basis of a false identity? It’s completely absurd.
One can also argue that somebody could impersonate you with the intent of destroying your reputation. However, it is a common enough occurrence to behold people attempting to destroy the reputation of others without even bothering to mask their own identity. In fact, it is their very identity « I am an expert of … » that will help them destroy the reputation of the other party! The weight and impact of a criticism depends on the credibility of the person making it. An anonymous criticism or one coming from some unknown party holds significantly less value than one coming from someone known and recognized.
Identity theft is much more likely to come from con artists. But their goal won’t be to post a comment on a blog while impersonating you. Instead, their purpose will be to empty your bank account or place an order with your credit card. In this case, if I’m a thief, a cyber-delinquent, am I really going to worry about my reputation?
Finally, before marrying you, your spouse was likely very keen to know whether you had a good reputation. He/she married you based on your reputation (also your physique, your sense of humor,…) not on the basis of your identity card. Before hiring you, your employer asked you for your diplomas and your references (elements of your reputation); your employer never verified your identity except on your first day working for the company/organization, doing so for purely administrative purposes (salary, social security,…). Your reputation got you hired, not your identity.

Thus, identity and reputation are 2 autonomous concepts. Identity is what’s at stake in the fight against financial fraud. Reputation is what’s at stake within the framework of our digital lives. Publishing a photo on Flickr, a video on Youtube, a post or a comment on a blog is a part of my digital life which in no way affects my identity but which can positively or negatively impact my reputation.

IV. What is digital identity?

Here are some of the features of digital identity:

1 - Identity is tied to a person

We have 3 types of identity:
- A professional identity with our professional contact information (job title, company department, telephone, fax & office numbers, etc.). This identity allows authentication with respect to enterprise applications (messaging, intranet, business applications, etc.). It is generally stored in the enterprise LDAP directory.
- A personal identity linked to our personal contact information (home address, home telephone number, etc.). This identity allows authentication with respect to “general public” applications such as e-commerce sites.
- An administrative identity linked to administrative information (social security number, tax id, shared patient record, etc.). This identity allows us to carry out administrative procedures.

Excerpted from Tendances.it

2 - Identity is objective

It is comprised of factual and readily observable elements.

3 - Your identity is checked by third parties

Service providers on the Internet need to check your identity within the context of electronic transactions:
-> e-Commerce (selling/buying) - It is important to be able to verify the real identity of a seller or a buyer in case of litigation (non-payment, substandard product,…)
-> Wiring of funds, payments, opening of bank accounts, …

4 - Digital identity can make your life easier!

Some services allow you to register for several other services by using a single account. For example, by creating an account on OpenID.net you can then register automatically with several other services without having to reenter your first & last name, your email address,… Very practical!

V. What is digital reputation?

To speak of digital reputation is to answer the following question: how are my actions evaluated by my social and professional networks? Here are some of the features of digital reputation:

1 - Reputation is tied to an evaluation

Reputation is a mutual evaluation by 2 people trying to establish the context in which they can trust each other. Each establishes “a sphere of trust”.

You can trust someone to do certain things but not others. A Formula 1 driver is a priori someone you can trust to drive a race car. But would you ask him to build your house? The trust you place in a person isn’t absolute; it is context-specific. With each person in your social network, you implicitly define a “context of trust” (a “sphere of trust”) with respect to roles, abilities or personal qualities. You can not say you trust someone without specifying the context in which you trust them.
For example, here is how Jack could define his context of trust with respect to his colleague Martin (defining what is inside and what is outside the sphere of trust):

-> Jack trusts Martin when it comes to managing a team, marketing and creativity (roles, abilities and personal qualities within Jack’s sphere of trust regarding Martin)

-> Jack doesn’t know whether he can trust Martin when it comes to managing a project, maintaining computer systems or when it comes to his loyalty towards the company (outside Jack’s sphere of trust)

-> Jack doesn’t trust Martin when it comes to managing innovation, accounting or when it comes to his punctuality (outside Jack’s sphere of trust)

In summary, with each person within your social network, you implicitly define a sphere of trust. This sphere of trust can include roles, areas of expertise, abilities and personal qualities. These elements serve as the basis for the trust you place in a person within your network. Inversely, outside the sphere of trust, you’re not comfortable saying you trust this person.

2 - Reputation is subjective

Reputation is a social evaluation that more or less matches reality. To convey our perception of someone, we most often resort to expressing our opinions. But our opinion is a value judgement which does not necessarily rely on observable or quantifiable facts or data. Thus the evaluation can be fair or unfair!

3 - We do not control our own reputation

We do not control our own reputation in the sense that we can not prevent others from forming an opinion about us and sharing it with others. We can, however, manage our reputation:

-> By adopting socially-acceptable behaviors conducive to a good reputation. This is a very useful mechanism of social control for self-regulating human interactions.

-> By using reputation-management tools available in particular, but not exclusively, on the Internet. These allow us to better communicate (content aggregators), better evaluate (more facts, fewer opinions) or better monitor (alert services monitoring both positive and negative reviews made about us thereby enabling us to respond in a timely and suitable fashion). This blog will soon review these tools in greater detail.

5 - The benefits of managing one’s reputation

Managing one’s digital reputation is useful for:
- searching for a job, making yourself known
- offering services (consultants, freelancers,…)
- increasing the value of your expertise
- boosting your career
- meeting friends and lovers

VI. What are the stakes?

The issue of digital identity presents mainly technical problems which are in no way insurmountable with a little technique! The issue of reputation presents, above all, novel social problems in the sense that the Internet creates a new context for human interactions.
When it comes to digital identity, the main issues are: How to create a digital identity card? How to transition from paper to digital? How to check someone’s identity remotely, in the absence of face to face interaction?
Mastering the issue of digital reputation requires inventing a new mode of evaluation, a new way to think about someone’s reputation on the Internet and in particular within social networks. That is the objective of this blog!

This post was inspired by, and I would like to thank, the following:
http://www.fredcavazza.net
http://fr.techcrunch.com
http://www.outilsfroids.net/
http://www.tendances.it

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