A friend of mine is really bothered by a picture someone posted of him on the Internet. It isn't a great angle and the wind is blowing his hair a little funky, but I have to say, when I look at the image I don't get his angst. After all, to me that picture just looks like my friend. (Not only that, but I looked at it for all of about 7 seconds before moving onto the next pic--as probably did everyone else except for him).
One of the challenges with social media, is that it is....well...social.
Consider standing in a public place when someone walks by...I can't control how they see me. They may catch my bad angle or see my hair funny. They may hear a snatch of conversation out of context that paints me in a bad light. Or run into me at the store after not seeing me for 10 years on a day I just went to the dentist and my lips feel like they are the size of Canada.
In real life, these moments are fleeting to us. But to the person who observes us, it can get frozen in their brain. People process the world by drawing conclusions based on these momentary snapshots. The difference with the web is that we actually get to see these moments of ourselves.
Image management is about controlling the angles people see. (Consider all the money the National Enquirer and Star make capturing the angles people want to hide.) The thing with social media just like brief interactions in real life is that we can't control the angles. Worse, there is also the Streisand effect--an online phenomena where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of causing the information to be publicized more widely than would have occurred if no censorship had been attempted.
Your image on the web works the same way it does in real life. The person who sees an unattractive picture, reads a quote out of context or views a narrow sliver of who you are will draw conclusions from that...just as they would if they had met you in the town square in real life for a fleeting moment. You can't control that. What you can do is influence it. Consider that your friends see a volume of different angles. They have a fuller picture than the snapshot. Their perceptions are shaped with frequency and repetitive images. While you can't control the individual captures of the bad angles, you can influence your image through repetition and volume. Creating a full and realistic image for yourself online helps dilute the snapshots that will accidentally (and occasionally maliciously) be posted by others.
If you think about it, Katie Couric's image isn't destroyed by a shot of her without makeup in a tabloid, Burt Reynolds isn't destroyed by a photo of him bald, and as much as a single stupid line from a politician can get volumes of airplay, it doesn't take them down if it is out of context and not an actual revelation of their character. Why? Because we have thousands of images and impressions shaping our opinions. (Though I'm reasonably sure the image without makeup on the grocery store stand bothers Katie greatly.)
The golden rules for online image management? The same as real life. Make sure you have enough impressions of yourself to reveal the full picture and make sure you are a person (or a church) worth talking positively about.
