If you’re constantly sharing your personal business online, infamy — aka fame’s crazy uncle — is destined to find you. Most of the time, however, infamy is thrust upon you, and you won’t know about it until you receive that call from the HR department.
In fact, there are hundreds of web sites devoted to poking fun at everyday folks, and here are just eight of them:
Facebook. Okay, your boo has made parole, and you want to announce it to the world. The ease of instantly sharing the good news with those 50 people whom you know in “real life” can come back to haunt you because you’ve also shared it with the 2,000+ people whom you “friend-ed” just to appear popular. Well, guess who’s commenting and forwarding your pic. Bam! You’re infamous.
Twitter (especially if you tweet honestly and in real-time). In one of the biggest HR mishaps in Twitter’s history, a New York advertising agency exec en route to meet with his Memphis deep-pocket client, FedEx, tweets this when he lands: “True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, ‘I would die if I had to live here.’” You can imagine the rest of the story. Several FedEx execs followed him on Twitter. He was canned. Bam! He’s infamous.
Craigslist (if you cruise Craigslist to cheat on your spouse). Married congressman Chris Lee resigned after attempting to hook up with a leggy sistergirl who turned him in to Gawker. Now, there are reports that he was attempting to hook up with a cross-dressing call girl as well. Bam! He’s infamous.
Don’t Date Him Girl. You were shady, and, now, your ex has put your business on blast. Bam! You’re infamous.
The Smoking Gun. You get arrested for doing something stupid, or, say, overracting to the Neighborhood Block Club’s dress code. Bam! You’re infamous.
The Dirty. You send a hot self-portrait to your new online boo, just begging for confirmation of your hotness. Great…until you break up. Now, he’s posted your pic so that everyone can judge your hotness. Bam! You’re infamous.
People of Walmart. You head to your friendly neighborhood retailer on a late-night run, and you’re not dressed to the nines. Bam! You’re infamous.
YouTube. Don’t get me wrong, YouTube is a God-send if you’re an artist in search of a big break. But YouTube is your worst enemy if you’re wasted, and your friends send you back on yet another beer run. The security cam witnesses everything, and the YouTubers will add the soundtrack for you. Bam! You’re infamous.
Are you already infamous, and you really don’t want to be? Depending on your transgression, some unsavory items can be removed from the web, or, at least, you can catch the leak before it becomes a tsunami.
For a quick, free, damage-control tool, set up an account with www.Google.com/Alerts to be notified every time your name is mentioned. You can keep track of what’s being written about you, and you can contact the site owner directly to delete negative items. There are also a host of reputation monitors that you can purchase to keep track of your brand and business profiles.
However, if infamy does catch up to you, and you just can’t shake it, perhaps your best bet is to make the most of it, just as Antoine Dodson does. Bam! He’s infamous — and he’s getting paid for it. –zondra hughes
