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Business types judged on Facebook

If they are used to complement a business website, blogs, photos and social networks can generate more sales, but used in isolation and they risk turning clients away.

Such is the finding of Fasthosts, which warns that the trend of company owners or their colleagues publishing personal content online impacts the perception of their business.

Its survey of 540 UK firms found that 78% of owners believe the Web is hosting personal material that relates to them; in the form of photos, blog entries or Facebook profiles.

Perhaps the most worrying finding is that two-third of the owners said they have already made a judgement about their business contacts based solely on viewing their personal content.

But due to the very nature of Web 2.0, much of the information or images being posted about company owners are not within their control. When they did self-publish, 17% had regrets.

Yet a higher number of owners (40%) said what others are publishing about them – such as photos of them on a night out, could be detrimental to their business.

Most business owners think this threatens their bottom lines: more than eight out of ten say there could be a link between a proprietor’s distasteful personal online material and a slide in sales.

The extent of alarm varies, with almost half of those owners with such anxieties saying there is a 'significant' risk, compared to an almost equal number recognising a ‘small' risk.

However, it is not all bad news when it comes to how business people manage their online image or identity.

Encouragingly, 76% of business owners believed that if the right balance was struck, their personal online identity could be used to positively impact their business.

A stand-alone website is vital to striking this balance: a survey of 300 people who publish their own website, as opposed to just a social networking page, found that 84% felt significantly more in control over their online image.

Some 71% of people using a personal website with their own domain name believe that their site has given them a favourable online image. 70% said it was better at creating a good impression than using a social networking page.

Furthermore, 79% of personal website owners were happy to recommend the tool as a means of creating or changing an individual's online image or identity.

The findings lend weight to the argument that personal sites or blogs can be a useful means to generate or make modifications to a business owner's online identity.

“Today, the issue of online identity is clearly a concern for the British businesses,” said Mark Jeffries, of Fasthosts Internet Ltd.

“With it now being commonplace to search online for individuals as well as companies, proprietors should take care to present their own personal online material carefully and keep an eye on their online image accordingly.”

As well as being more controlled, individual personal websites appear to be highly sociable just like social networking, as the average owner is contacted by 11-15 new people per year, and in the same time, 21% get approached by more than 50 people.

In relation to social networks, 68% of personal site owners valued their own sites as allowing more creativity and only a quarter claimed that a social networking page could be more communicative.

“With the right approach, business owners can present their personal online material in a way that won't compromise their business activities,” Mr Jeffries advised.

“Our research highlights that personal websites in particular appear to offer a high level of control over online image, and can allow this to be modified effectively.”

According to the research, business owners are spending time snooping on their colleagues or competitors: one in five owners routinely 'Google' for personal material on rival owners.

Regardless of how and where they find personal content about an individual, almost half of respondents said they would the judge the material to be representative of that business person overall.

May 8, 2008
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