As our world becomes increasingly digital, consumers are sharing more information online than ever before. Such over-sharing shapes their reputations—for better or for worse—and can open them up for identity theft. In fact 54% of social media users have been a target of identity theft, creating the case that consumers should be more aware of what they share online, including personal information like date of birth and checking in at locations.

This also has a number of business implications. First, professionals’ online reputations and habits can impact the reputations and security of their employers, raising concerns for businesses around hiring techniques and company policies. Second, there is the opportunity for businesses to help consumers and professionals manage their online activities and reputations.

In fact, the reputation and security risks associated with employees’ online habits have sparked trends among employers: 91% of hiring managers now look at social media when screening job applicants, according to Reppler, and 42% of companies have reconsidered job candidates based on the content of their social profiles, according to Jobvite. Yet, less than a third of companies even have policies to shape their employees’ social media use outside the workplace.

CSID worked with three experts from various perspectives to create educational materials on the topic, for consumers and businesses alike. We worked with Jessica Miller-Merrell, HR consultant with Xceptional HR and Blogging4Jobs, for the hiring perspective; Neil Richards, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, for the privacy and legal perspective; and Parry Aftab, cyber security expert and executive director of Wired Safety, for additional thoughts on how one’s online activities can impact reputation and security. From our research with these experts, we’ve released a white paper as well as the accompanying infographic, which we encourage you to download and share.

These experts also took part in our cyberSAFE webinar series. In this webinar, moderated by CSID’s VP of product and marketing, Bryan Hjelm, we discussed online reputation management from both the consumer and business perspectives. Topics included: how employers are looking at social media profiles to make hiring decisions, the privacy and fraud implications of the types of information consumers share online, best practices for managing online reputations, and business solutions to mitigate online sharing. The full recording will be available shortly – please check back here to view the full discussion.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on online reputation management on Facebook and Twitter. Join our discussion using the hashtag #cyberSAFE. Find out more about our cyberSAFE webinars and watch previous recordings on our Webinars page.