Lol…OMG! What every student needs to know about online reputation management, digital citizenship and cyber bullying.

“What if every mistake you ever made in high school or college was captured and shared with everyone you know, and then with thousands of strangers every day for the rest of your life? “  (from lol…OMG press release)

This fall, all Wayland high school students are reading Matt Ivester’s lol…OMG (2012), book where he discusses the dangers of this reality and the steps one can take for online reputation management. Ivester wrote this book as a result of his experiences with founding, managing, and then having to shut down JuicyCampus.com.

Ivester will be coming to Wayland this Tuesday, October 8th, where he will speak to all high school and 8th grade middle school students.  He will discuss the importance of online reputation management, the dangers of cyber bullying, and strategies and best practices related to both. He will speak to parents in the evening at the Wayland High School auditorium at 7pm. Admission is free and open to all.

As stated on the lol…OMG website, “the ease with which digital content can be shared online in addition to its many benefits, has created problems for today’s high school and college students.  All too often, students are uploading, updating, posting and publishing without giving a second thought to who might see their content or how it might be perceived.”

“Matt Ivester has written a guide to the opportunities and dangers of social networks and online behavior that will not only save reputations but literally save lives,” said David Bohnett, a philanthropist and founder of the Internet-based media and e-commerce company, GeoCities.

As stated in the press release, Lol…OMG ! explains the unanticipated negative consequences of students’ digital decisions – from lost job opportunities and denied college and graduate school admissions to full-blown national scandals.  Ivester argues that everyone looks at your record online now: prospective employers, love-interests, teachers, admissions offices, even your parents.  The book also illustrates how technology allows students to bully one another in new and disturbing ways, and why students are often crueler online than in person.

"Matt Ivester's book, lol...OMG! is a must-read for every college student, every high school student and the parents of each. It is also a should-read for everyone who might want a job in today’s world."

Joe Riley, Director of Human Resources, LinkedIn

MORE  ABOUT MATT IVESTER

Matt Ivester is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kindr, a technology company dedicated to making the world a Kindr place (http://www.kindr.me), which just launched today its iPhone app which makes it fun and easy to send compliments to friends and family. Prior to founding Kindr, Ivester founded a number of successful technology companies, the most notable of which was JuicyCampus.com, where he developed and grew the explosively popular viral college gossip website into an audience of more than a million monthly unique visitors in less than a year. While in business school at Stanford University, Ivester also served as Director of Digital Citizenship for the entire student body He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Computer Science from Duke University.

EXCERPT FROM lol…OMG!

“The digital world is only as good or bad as we make it.  The internet isn’t a conscious being making its own decisions.  People around the globe are contributing to its development – whether they are entrepreneurs creating new social media sites moms writing blogs or students using Facebook.  Online social norms are still being decided, and they are being decided by you and people like you.  You have much more control than you might think…The point is, you are powerful.  You are shaping the Internet, leaving a legacy that will echo for years to come.  Whether you organize a big campaign to combat issues of online incivility, actively stand up against cyber bullying or just lead the way by modeling ethical online behavior, you can have a real, lasting impact.

[Chapter 10: Your Digital Citizenship]