修复你的在线声誉

By Steve Henn

Melissa Block： This year， more than 1.7 million students are graduating from college. And many are engaged in a 1）ritual of the digital age： cleaning up their online profiles. As NPRs Steve Henn reports， an entire industry has sprung up to help.

Steve Henn： I became interested in this business of cleaning up online reputations because two guys told me a great story. Its a story about how they founded their own business. And the story is so good its become a bit of an urban legend. It begins when Pete Kistler was in college at Syracuse.

Pete Kistler： My GPA was 3.9. I had a lot of relevant internship experience， and I wanted to go into software.

Henn： So Kistler started applying to a bunch of top computer software firms， looking for a summer job.

Kistler： And by a bunch， I mean dozens and dozens. But Im not hearing back from anyone.

Henn： Kistler says he was puzzled. No one was even calling him. Then...

Kistler： One of my buddies who works at one of the places that I applied to actually reached out to me and he said， you wont believe this， but the reason that you didnt get called back was because they Googled you and they found another kid with your name thats a drug dealer， and they thought that you were him.

Henn： When Pete Kistler was telling me this story， he said he still remember the exact moment he Googled himself. Kistler： I remember it 2）vividly. You know， my stomach dropped and I thought， oh， my God， everybody who Googles me probably thinks Im this kid， Im this drug dealer. And there are all these Google images of a car crash and 3）DUI.

Henn： It was almost kind of funny， he says， until he tried to clean up the mess.

Kistler： At that point， I didnt really know what to do because I didnt know how to fix my own search results in Google.

Henn： There are reputation management companies out there that could help Kistler out.

（Soundbite of advertisement）

Unidentified man： Reputation.com 4）combats negative material.

Henn： But the cost is steep. Michael Fertick helped create this industry and now runs Reputation.com.

Michael Fertick： Another one of our products starting at $1，000 dollars a year， OK—lets just be clear—called Reputation Defender， will help you take control of your reputation online.

Kistler： Of course， I had student loans and there was no way I could possibly afford that.

Henn： Did you talk to your parents about it？

Kistler： Yeah， I did. And they didnt have the money either.

Henn： These companies advertise a lot.

（Soundbite of advertisement）

Unidentified man： Call 800-222-6638 now for your free reputation assessment.

Henn： Youve probably heard messages like these. Reputation. com is an underwriter for NPR. And the biggest reputation management companies spend millions on marketing each year. But Danny Sullivan， the editor Search Engine Land， finds these ads unconvincing.

Danny Sullivan： They usually make me kind of laugh because the promises tend to sound like， were going to sort all this stuff out for you， and the reality is that nobody can really guarantee to do that.

Henn： Sullivan says if theres bad information out there about you online， you usually cant simply erase it from the Internet. No one can. Instead， these services...

Sullivan： They all do work kind of the same way.

Henn： They try to flood the Internet with new， more positive stories and content about you， stories that link to each other and are written in ways that make them pop to the top of search results.

Sullivan： You try to get the good stuff to come into the top results which will push down the bad stuff.

Henn： Its called search engine 5）optimization， or SEO. And Pete Kistler says when he was in college he didnt have the cash to pay for it. But he did have a friend with some SEO experience： Patrick Ambron. And soon， they realized that maybe there was a business in this for them.

Patrick Ambron： So what we wanted to do was create a product that allowed anybody to do the same thing we were doing but do it themselves for free.

Henn： They launched a company called BrandYourself， landed some 6）venture 7）capital funding and opened an office in New York City. They now offer more affordable paid services， too， and a couple colleges including Johns Hopkins and Syracuse offer these services to their undergrads. But Ambron acknowledges they cant make bad stories just disappear.

Ambron： What you do is you push unwanted things down with more positive relevant stuff.

Henn： And this story of Pete Kistler the computer programmer being mistaken for Pete Kistler the drug dealer has become 8）ubiquitous. Newspapers picked it up. The story has appeared in USA Today， “The New York Post”， Forbes and on CBS and in the AP. BrandYourself even has a photo， a 9）mug shot actually， on its website of this supposed drug dealer， Pete Kistler. But the thing is， I cant find a record of this guy， this convicted drug dealer named Pete Kistler anywhere.

梅丽莎·布洛克：今年（2013年），将有超过170万大学生毕业。他们中许多人例行数字时代的一项新兴工作：清理他们的在线资料。正如NPR记者史蒂夫·亨的报道，整个行业如同雨后春笋般出现，（为需要清理在线资料的客户）提供帮助。

史蒂夫·亨：我开始对这个清理在线声誉的行业感兴趣源于两个人给我讲的一个很棒的故事，是关于他们如何创业的。这个创业故事很有启发性，有点儿都市传奇的味道。故事源于那时还在锡拉丘兹（美国城市）上大学的皮特·吉斯特勒。

皮特·吉斯特勒：那时我的平均绩点是3.9，有过不少相关实习经验，我想求得一份软件行业的工作。

亨：所以吉斯特勒开始申请一系列顶尖的计算机软件公司，寻求一份暑期实习工作。

吉斯特勒：申请了一堆公司，我是说很多很多，但是没有一个给我回复。

亨：吉斯特勒说他很迷惑，甚至没人给他打过电话。之后……吉斯特勒：事实上我的一个好朋友联系了我，他在我曾申请的其中一家公司工作，他说：“你不会相信这个的，但是他们不给你回复是因为他们谷歌搜索了你的名字，发现一个与你同名的孩子是个毒贩，他们以为你就是他。”

亨：皮特·吉斯特勒告诉我这个故事时，他说他仍清楚地记得当时他谷歌搜索自己名字的情形。

吉斯特勒：我记得很清楚。你知道，我的胃像被震掉了一样，我想，噢，天啊，每个谷歌搜索我名字的人都可能会认为我就是这个孩子，我就是这个毒贩。还有谷歌图片上有所有这些撞车事故和酒后驾车的照片。

亨：这有点儿好笑，他说，直到他开始尝试清理烂摊子。

吉斯特勒：那时，我真的不知道该怎么做，因为我不知道如何修复自己在谷歌上的搜索结果。

亨：有声誉管理公司能助吉斯特勒一臂之力。

（广告片段声）

匿名男声：Reputation.com击破负面材料。

亨：但这项服务花费昂贵。迈克·菲尔提克致力发展这一行业，现在运营着Reputation.com。

迈克·菲尔提克：我们的另一个产品每年需要花费最低1千美元起，好吧，简单说，这叫做声誉卫士，它会帮你监视在线声誉。

吉斯特勒：当然，我还有学生贷款要还，不可能支付得起这笔费用。亨：你和父母谈过这事吗？

吉斯特勒：是的，谈过，他们也没有钱。

亨：这些公司的广告铺天盖地。

（广告片段声）

匿名男声：现在拨打电话8002226638，进行免费声誉评估。亨：你可能听过这样的广告。Reputation.com是NPR的承销商。最大的几家声誉管理公司每年花几百万美元在市场推广上。而网站搜索引擎天地的编辑丹尼·沙利文说，这些广告都不具说服力。

丹尼·沙利文：他们时常让我忍俊不禁，因为这些承诺听起来就像是：我们将为您解决这些事，但是事实上没人能做到。

亨：沙利文说如果网上有关于你的不好信息，通常是不能简单地从互联网上擦掉的。没人可以做到。而这些“服务”……

沙利文：他们工作的方式基本一致。

亨：他们试着将关于你的新的、更正面的故事和内容注入互联网中，故事相互链接，使他们能迅速登上搜索结果靠前的位置。

沙利文：你试着将好的方面放到搜索结果靠前位置，将不好的方面挤到后面。

亨：这叫做搜索引擎优化，或者简称SEO。皮特·吉斯特勒说他上大学前没钱支付这项服务的费用。但是他的朋友帕特里克·安布朗做过SEO相关的工作。不久之后，他们意识到那可能成为他们自己的事业。

帕特里克·安布朗：所以我们要做的就是创造一个产品，这个产品能让任何人自己就能做我们做着的事，并且是免费的。

亨：他们创立了一家叫做BrandYourself的公司，依靠风险投资基金，在纽约市有一间办公室。如今他们也提供更多的付费服务，包括约翰斯·霍普金斯以及锡拉丘兹的一些大学对他们的学生提供这些服务。但是安布朗承认他们并不能使坏的故事完全消失不见。

安布朗：你所能做的就是用更积极的相关信息将不想看到的信息挤到靠后的位置。亨：计算机程序师皮特·吉斯特勒误成为毒贩子皮特·吉斯特勒的故事很普遍。报纸捡到了这个素材。如今，这样的故事发生在美国。在《纽约邮报》、福布斯杂志上，在哥伦比亚广播公司还有美联社都有报道。BrandYourself甚至在自己的网站上有一张照片，实际上是这位所谓的“毒贩子”皮特·吉斯特勒的面部特写照。但是问题是，我无法找到关于这个人——记录在案的毒贩子皮特·吉斯特勒的记录了。