Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Powell, and welcome to Computing.

I'm so pleased that you decided to join me here today.

In today's lesson, we're going to be talking about how we can maintain a positive online reputation.

Let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit Online Safety.

Today's lesson is called Online Reputation.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll understand what is meant by the terms online reputation and can identify steps to build or protect your online reputation.

We'll be using these keywords throughout today's lesson.

Let's take a look at them.

The first one is reputation.

Reputation, this is the opinion people have about someone or something.

The next word is digital footprint.

Digital footprint, this is a trail of data you leave behind when you use the internet.

The third word is privacy settings.

Privacy settings, these are the controls that let you manage the visibility of your personal data and activities online.

This lesson is split into three sections.

The first section will explore defining online reputation.

In the second section, we'll identify how to build a positive online reputation.

And in the third section, we'll discuss how to defend online reputation.

Let's get started with the first section, define online reputation.

Online reputation is defined as the reputation of a person, company, or product created by the content they produce and the way they behave online.

Your online reputation is formed of all of your online activity that is seen by others and the online content made about you by others.

This can include activity you intended to be private.

Sometimes you can think of this as your digital footprint.

Some of these might reflect you positively, for example, like an award.

However, some of them might affect you negatively.

For example, a photograph of something that you'd rather not have shared.

Over time, your online activity can help to build a digital footprint.

This is a trail of data you leave behind when you use the internet.

Data is being tracked even if you post it anonymously.

A lot of the time when you apply for the job, your interviewer will check your online history.

Which of the following contribute to your online reputation? Websites you have an account on, username on a website, content made by other people that you have liked or shared publicly, content posted on a public social media account, content someone else has publicly shared with you or tagged you in, content made about you online.

Pause the video and have a quick think.

All of these activities can contribute to your online reputation if they can be linked to you.

For example, websites you have an account on.

Depending on various factors, entities can potentially trace the websites you have an account on.

Search engines and some websites track your activity across different sites.

Usernames can look professional and also very unprofessional, depending on what you choose.

Content someone else has publicly shared with you or tagged you in.

It's difficult to control what someone has tagged you in, but you could ask them to remove that tag if it dangers your online reputation.

Which of the following contribute to your digital footprint? Content posted anonymously, websites you have visited, your search history, content posted on a private social media account, emails and direct messages, websites you have an account on.

Pause the video and have a quick think.

All of these activities can contribute to your digital footprint.

For example, content posted anonymously.

Even when trying to be anonymous, users leave behind traces, such as IP address or email logins.

Private social media accounts are still linked to email logins.

Your search history is tracked to allow companies to offer targeted advertising.

I need your help here.

I'd like you to fill in the blanks.

Define online reputation.

Online reputation.

Online reputation is defined as the blank of a person, company, or product created by the content they produce and the way they blank online.

Your online reputation is made up of your blank activity that is seen by others and the online blank made about you by others.

This can include activity you attended to be blank.

Pause the video and look at the words in the box: private, behave, content, reputation, and online.

See if you can use those to fill in the blanks.

Let's take a look at the answers.

Online reputation is defined as the reputation of a person, company, or product created by the content they produce and the way they behave online.

Your online reputation is made up of your online activity that is seen by others and the online content made about you by others.

This could include activity you intended to be private.

I have a question here for you, I'd like you to give it a try.

Which of the following contribute to your online reputation? Is it, A, websites you have visited, B, your behaviour offline, C, content posted on a private social media account, or D, content made by other people that you have liked or shared in a separate private message? Pause the video and have a quick think.

Which of the following contribute to your online reputation, A, B, C or D? In this case, A, C and D all contribute to your online reputation.

This can be websites you've visited, content posted on a private social media account, and content made by other people that you've liked or shared in a separate private message.

I have a task here for you, I'd like you to give it a try.

Write a definition in your own words to explain the term online reputation.

Pause the video to finish the task.

I have some feedback here for you.

This is Sam.

Sam says, "Online reputation is how you behave online and what you post online.

It can be positive or negative.

It can also include what other people post online about you.

It doesn't just have to relate to a single person either.

It could be a company or a brand." Well done, that brings us to the end of the first section, define online reputation.

Now let's move on to the second section, identify how to build a positive online reputation.

Identify how to build a positive online reputation.

Your online reputation can change over time because you change over time, but the content we create online often remains even when it's no longer relevant.

Think about which parts of your online reputation change over time and which don't.

True or false, the things I share online now won't matter in the future? Pause a video and have a quick think, is that true or false? The answer's false.

Why is that? Online content can stay available for a long time.

You may not want the things you share online now to be available in a few years time.

True or false, your online reputation can change over time? Pause the video and have a quick think, is that true or false? The answer's true.

Why is that? Your online reputation can change.

Having a positive online reputation might open opportunities to help you gain a job in the future.

You're going to analyse the online reputation of four different characters.

Character A is a teacher, character B is a photographer, character C is an estate agent, and character D is a politician.

Character A is a teacher.

They've been using the internet since their childhood and when they were a teenager they liked to write blogs about their life.

They have several profiles on social media accounts, all of which are public and they regularly post about their day, including the things that annoy them about their students and their colleagues.

Character B is a photographer who posts their pictures on social media as an influencer.

They mostly post about fashion and photography and hope to become a model.

When they were younger, they got into an argument with another influencer and sent some nasty messages via a messaging app.

Character B has since blocked the other influencer.

Character C is an estate agent, they do not have any personal social media accounts.

However, they sometimes make rude comments anonymously on websites.

They thought that if they used anonymous accounts, they would not get caught.

Recently, they posted an unpleasant comment about a politician while accidentally still logged into their work account and lost their job.

Character D is a politician.

They use social media accounts to update their constituents about their work.

The social media accounts are run by an assistant who worked for character D, but who was fired.

The assistant uses character D'S account to post rude comments about character D's colleagues.

I have a task here for you.

For each character, answer the following questions.

Number one, how would you describe their online reputation? Number two, have they used the internet appropriately? Number three, will this affect their online reputation forever? Pause the video to complete the task.

Number four, were there any common mistakes made by the characters? Number five, whose online reputation has been affected the worst? Number six, choose one character.

Think of a type of online content that might improve their online reputation.

Pause the video to finish the task.

I'd like to give you some feedback.

Number one, how would you describe their online reputation? This is Jacob's answer.

Jacob says, "I think all of the characters have negative aspects to their online reputation.

The teacher, photographer and the estate agent have shared unkind things online.

Nasty messages have also been shared from the politician's social media accounts." Number two, have they used the internet appropriately? Jacob says, "I think that the first three characters have used the internet inappropriately as they've all shared things that they shouldn't have.

The politician hasn't, but people will think he has if they look at his social media accounts." Number three, will this affect their online reputation forever? I think the teacher and politicians' reputations could possibly stay with them forever.

The estate agent posted from the work's account so I think it would be the company who could suffer from a negative reputation.

Although the photographer posted nasty things, it was in a private area, so unless the person they shared it with makes it public, their reputation may be okay." Number four, were there any common mistakes made by the characters? Jacob says, "I think that the teacher, photographer, and estate agent have all made a common mistake.

They have posted information online that they shouldn't have.

The politician hasn't done this, but they must have shared their social media login details for someone to do this on their behalf." Number five, whose online reputation has been affected the worst? Jacob thinks, "The photographer made a mistake when they were younger.

This might come back to haunt them in the future, but it wasn't a public post.

The estate agent used the work's account, so this might not directly impact their own online reputation.

I think that the teacher and the politician's reputations are the worst.

These are people in responsible jobs who are posting or allowing others to post inappropriate comments on their own profiles publicly." Number six, how would you improve the online reputation of your chosen character? Jacob says, "I think the teacher should stop sharing public posts about their students and colleagues, or they could lose their job.

If they choose to post publicly, they should post positive comments or share good ideas about teaching, like books they've read, resources they've made, or helpful links.

I'm sure other teachers would like this and it would build up a much better online reputation." Well done, that brings us to the end of the second section, identify how to build a positive online reputation.

Let's move on to the third section, discuss how to defend an online reputation.

An online reputation can be attacked and damaged in lots of different ways.

You might be careful with your online reputation, but it can still be attacked by others, including people that you know or people that you don't know.

People that you know.

Sometimes you might fall out with classmates, friends or partners, and they may choose to attack your online reputation.

They could be motivated by revenge or hurt feelings.

This can result in hurtful text, images and videos being shared and causing upset between people.

People that you don't know.

People can attack your online reputation without knowing you.

This could include scammers, hackers or cyber bullies.

They might be motivated by money, want to steal your identity or just generally spread bad feeling.

This could result in them using or sharing your information without you knowing or saying or sharing unkind things.

Match the attacker to the motivation.

We have hacker, ex-partner, cyberbully, and scammer, and the motivations are a personal dislike of the victim or their beliefs, they're sad because of the breakup and want revenge, may be motivated by financial gain, revenge or thrill of the challenge, or wants to steal personal information about the victim for financial gain.

Pause the video and have a quick think, can you match the attacker to the motivation? Let's take a look at the answer.

A hacker may be motivated by financial gain, revenge or thrill of the challenge.

An ex-partner, they may be sad because of a breakup and want revenge.

A cyberbully might have a personal dislike of the victim or their beliefs.

And a scammer may want to steal personal information about the victim for financial gain.

What do you think is the difference between a hacker and a scammer? A hacker exploits technical weakness in a computer system or networks to gain unauthorised access.

It usually entails inputting unauthorised code into systems, which usually call for a certain level of programming skill.

Scammers, however, usually target individuals using social engineering, psychology and persuasion.

For example, a scammer might send a text pertaining to be a legitimate company, whereas a hacker has the skills to use programming to cause disruption.

Match the attacker to their technique.

We have hacker, ex-partner, cyberbully and scammer, and the techniques are convinces the victim to send personal information which be used for financial gain, post lies or comments about the victim online to try to embarrass them, shares intimate messages sent by the victim, hacks into the victim's account and makes inappropriate public posts posing as the victim.

A hacker may hack into the victim's account and make inappropriate public posts posing as a victim.

This could result in an account takeover.

A hacker could fraudulently access a person's account, such as their social media account, and then use that to make posts in their name.

These can be sent to friends or family and can often be aggressive or deceptive.

An ex-partner might share intimate messages sent by the victim.

A cyberbully might post lies or comments about the victim online to try to embarrass them.

A scammer might convince the victim to send personal information, which could be used for financial gain.

This could be done via phishing, for example.

If you are currently undergoing an ongoing or live cyberattack, you can call the Metropolitan Police on 101, who investigate fraud, computer misuse and cybercrime.

There are lots of ways it can help to protect your online reputation.

Number one, keep a log of your online accounts.

Number two, regularly search for yourself online to see what's visible.

Number three, delete old accounts and content that is no longer relevant to you.

Number four, use appropriate privacy settings.

Number five, only connect with friends or people you know and trust.

Number six, consider how the content you post might be interpreted by people in your life and only post content you would feel comfortable with them finding out about.

Regularly clear your browsing history and your cookies.

Use privacy enhancing tools to reduce the data collected on the websites you visit.

Don't share your passwords or give others access to your online accounts.

Avoid using emails and messaging services for private conversations.

Know your rights, have content taken down or blocked, and exercise them.

I have a task here for you, discuss how to defend online reputation.

Number one, do you think you can protect yourself from any of the online reputation attacks? Pause the video and have a quick think.

Number two, what steps do you need to take to defend your online reputation? Pause the video and have a quick think.

I'd like to give you some feedback.

Do you think you can protect yourself from any of the online reputation attacks? This is Lucas.

Lucas says, "I think I can protect myself as much as possible from the online reputation attacks.

However, I saw in the news that some of the big banks have been hacked.

They have so much more better security than me.

I think I need to do what I can to keep myself safe, but be vigilant at all times." Number two, what steps do you need to take to defend your online reputation? "I searched for my name online as part of a computing lesson last year.

I think I need to do this more regularly to check what information is shared about me.

I also need to check my privacy settings as the apps I use change the settings all of the time.

I should also check my old social media accounts.

I can probably delete some of those now." Well done, let's summarise.

A person's online reputation is how they are regarded online.

As the information we share online is often split across multiple platforms, many people are not aware of the extent of their online reputation or the ways in which it could be used against them.