Opera at SXSW 2008

After describing why the topic is important,—basically, networking provides unique problems for reputation management because it can replicate both bad (and good) comments—Muller presented six Judo moves for managing online reputations.

#1 Cast a long shadow. If there isn't already a lot of information about you online, when someone posts a negative comment about you, that negative comment will come up first when someone searches for your name. Having more positive content about yourself online will help inoculate you against random negative content.

#2 Tell your side of the story. Another way to respond to attacks on your reputation is to respond to the specific comments and tell your side of the story, but to do it in a way that is engaging and not defensive.

#3 A heartfelt apology. This point really speaks for itself. What was interesting was that Muller provided a short video featuring Sarah Lacy, whose disastrous interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is already a SXSW legend. In the video, Lacy did the opposite of what Muller suggests; instead of apologizing, she blamed the audience for their reaction, saying that she shouldn't have come to a developers' conference.

#4 Inspire an army. According to Muller, it's not enough to tell your own story; if you can get other people to tell it for you, it will be a thousand times more effective.

#5 Stand for something. If people know that you stand for something besides making money, it is easier to withstand criticism and build an army.

#6 Celebrate your critics. Finally, Muller argued that one judo move that can be used to manage your reputation is to actually celebrate your critics.

The best part of this presentation was Muller's copious video examples of his argument. He did a great job explaining his position through examples, making it much more accessible.