Managing Your Reputation Online Will Help You Succeed

Since we use our real names in most consumer and business applications today, it is possible for others to form an opinion about us based on what we say, what we do, and what we share. There are frameworks emerging to track this reputation based on observable and verifiable evidence. Whether you like it or not, people who work with you, who buy from you or hire you have access to this information. So it is important that you create and maintain a reputation.

Think of it as your credit score. Your banks know it and can determine your credit worthiness based on the score. So, you need to know what your score is, how to build it and how to improve it.  Similarly your employers and peers are verifying your information from multiple sources. You have a choice. You can actively create it, manage it and take advantage of it or leave it to chance. Saying that you are too busy for social media is naive and will hurt your success in the long run.

The History And Possible Future Of Performance Management

This info graphic from Mashable is so well done, I could not resist posting it here.

I would like to highlight the term reputation, mentioned in the last section of this info graphic. I suspect reputation building frameworks will become as important as formal credentialing frameworks. In other words, employers will care as much about what your reputation among peers is as the degree you have. This is happening today. But the frameworks for employees to build  a professional reputation within the walls of a company and for employers to verify that professional reputation is not robust yet.

 My colleagues who follow my blog and follow me on twitter know more about what I do at work and what I am capable of than my own team members. This is sad. 

We are trying to address this in SAP Career OnDemand. Career OnDemand is designed with the hypothesis that employees will take charge of their performance, their reputation and their career. We also believe that reputation built using verifiable contribution matters as much, if not more, as formal credentials. The next few years are going to be interesting.

Simulating Page Loading In An iPad Prototype Makes It Feel Like A Real App

While building iPad prototypes using @AxureRp I use a simple technique to make users feel like they are seeing a real iPad app. I deliberately display a page loading animation for a second just to give them the illusion that they are seeing a real app, even though they know very well that it is only a prototype. It helps the audience visualize the final design of the app, and helps me convey the possibilities.

Here is a video of how I do it.


Here is a sample gif file in case you want to use it. You should be able to right click and save this file, if you want to use it in your prototypes.

Half The Participants Downloaded The Conference App At LinkedIn Talent Connect

The LinkedIn Talent Connect 2011 conference had a conference mobile app. To the best of my knowledge, audience could give their feedback to sessions only via the app. The audience was recruiters and i noticed almost all of them had a smart phone. Even then, on day 2 only 50% of the audience had downloaded the app. I thought that was an interesting statistic.

Even though I was carrying a smart phone, I did not miss the app much. I did not care about giving feedback to the sessions. Conference apps need to provide something more than just replicate information already available on paper or automate processes previously done using paper. Conference app designers need to think about taking advantage of capabilities only the mobile phone could provide.

Social Media Help To Decide On An Apple Tree

My wife and I wanted to plant an apple tree in our backyard and decided to do some research on it. After the regular search and the taste tests, we decided that we wanted a Cameo apple tree. However, we were not satisfied with the decision and wanted to hear from some one who actually grows the Cameo apple tree. That is when we stumbled upon a set of videos from Cameo Apple growers in Washington state. After listening to farmers talk passionately about the apple they grow, we were convinced that we wanted the Cameo.

In a year or so, I'll let you know how apple farming at home worked out for me.