In today’s digital society, consumers are spending more of their time online between streaming, socializing, shopping and much more. However, with each of these activities, they are creating a digital footprint that is vulnerable to identity theft, privation invasion or a tarnished reputation. However, identity solution company IDShield wants to help its consumers become proactive in protecting their private data, identity and reputation.

The company recently announced that it has expanded its suite of product offerings to include proactive reputation management. This feature allows consumers to find and review old social media accounts, delete potentially offensive online content and safeguard their personal reputations. This announcement also comes with a partnership with yourself.online, a technology solutions provider focused on helping consumers manage their privacy and online content.

“Consumers are right to be concerned about hackers and identity theft but they forget that the most lasting and damaging impact to personal reputation is committed by their own hand,” said Benjamin Stotts, Vice President of Product Technologies at IDShield. “Every day you can read a story about someone losing a job or having a college acceptance rescinded due to an unthinking and harmful tweet or picture posted. Social media feels like an informal conversation but it’s not and can have life shattering consequences. Working together, we can begin to help consumers take control of their online lives, clean up their social media past, and, over time, build a reputation to be proud of.”

Cleaning Up Social Networks

IDShield’s new reputation management solution will initially allow consumers to clean up 14 major networks, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Amazon, YouTube, Been Verified, Flickr, Hi-5, Instant Checkmate, Archives and Whitepages.com. Features and benefits include helping to:

• Find old accounts and social media profiles
• Provide step-by-step resolution walkthroughs, change privacy settings, delete accounts and/or download your data
• Produce an automated review of a member’s social media activity to flag content which could be potentially damaging to their reputation
• Delete old content in bulk on Twitter instead of deleting it manually
• Create a score and summary of risk items

In the social media review, IDShield scans members’ photos and posts to flag comments or pictures that might appear to others as insensitive or inappropriate. This can include those involving nudity, violence, drugs, swearing or toxic comments. On a dashboard, a consumer then receives a score based on a variety of high and medium-risk factors, as well as corresponding actions to take to clean up.

The score is calculated by the number of items to review and segments the category by “high risk” and “medium risk.” Items classified as high risk include nudity, violence and drug images. Items classified as medium risk include alcohol and drugs. In addition, content words can be flagged for review, which includes those with highly negative sentiments, swearing and profanity. Ultimately, it’s up to the user to determine whether to keep the post up or not.

IDShield’s reputation management feature will flag items for review, but it’s ultimately up to the user to determine if they should take down the post.

“There’s been an uptick in hacks, breaches and strong sentiment being shared on social media and other digital spaces, “ said Ben Stotts, Vice President of Program Management, LegalShield. “It’s more important than ever for individuals to have content associated with them to be monitored. We know that with the increased expansion of one’s digital footprint, information is being gathered and organized to tie back to them or connect with their identity. Now more than ever, it’s important for individuals to have their digital footprint monitored or occasionally deleted.”