On occasion of Michael Fertik’s new book The Reputation Economy Tim Lewis has talked to the founder and CEO of reputation.com and given a worth reading article in the Guardian. Here we deal with some of Fertik’s sayings.

According to Michael Fertik our online reputation will become as important as a credit rating nowadays. Of course the CEO of a company where people pay up to 700£ (around 900€) to have their most flattering (online) activities showcased to the world via search engines foresees so. On the other hand, digital footprints, big analysis and identity capitalism back up that outlook.

For Fertik, we should be aware of our digital devices being a kind of windows to our house. His company’s job then is to open and close the curtains to show us looking our best. 1 million businesses and individuals pay Fertik’s company to brush up their reputation score.

But there are also some less expensive tricks to brush up your reputation score on your own. Fertik advises to join as many sites as you can think of – Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter – and saturate them with positive content about yourself. Before long, search engines should get the message. Create enough positive “noise” that any negative comments will fade into the background, and plummet down the search rankings.

To us, reputation economy is linked to identity capitalism. And it reminds us of what was once called Klout score – the virtual price tag.