Now I Have an Online Reputation to Uphold Too?

Reputations are HUGE in business. They are a driving force that have the ability to bring great wealth and opportunity to those that have a good reputation. Of course, those types of reputations take A LOT of work. Countless hours brown-nosing (although, hopefully, not enough for others to smell it), myriads of social interactions and occasions and a ton of years all go into building a reputation. Oh yea, delivering on promises and providing timely, high-quality work are also must-haves as well.

It doesn't really surprise me that reputations are starting to move into the online realm and that they are diversifying. There are countless different types of reputations out there now. I think that Rob Hoff made an interesting point on the Tech Beat blog about how reputations can be imported into other areas of ones life given that the context that the reputation is in is the same for both aspects.

Also, the ideas book was interesting as well in how it showed a kind of balance between online reputation building and software agents that go out and search for items that might be of interest to you depending on what you buy. I think it is interesting that reputations seem to be gaining power in the online world. When you think about it, something as rigid and "class-defining" doesn't seem to be what the Internet is all about. That persons opinion matters more than yours or that person is the AUTHORITY on this topic. I guess it's just hard for me to wrap my head around reputations in the Internet. It does bring up an interesting question though. Will the Internet mirror how we interact with each other eventually? Will people be considered authorities within the Internet and use their discretion to exert their will on others?