Tag Archives: Apple

Branding, , , , , ,
Steve Jobs Tribute Website

As we’ve often discussed, nothing is more important — and brings more reputational power — than your personal brand. When we look back at those figures whose identities are etched permanently in our collective memory, very few 20th and 21st century brands are more indelible than that of Steve Jobs. The Apple impresario spurred us to “think different” and the world has never been the same since.

Now, Jobs’s widow, business leader, executive, and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs has been thinking differently indeed by way of the Steve Jobs Archive.

Look at this new website as the ultimate personal branding strategy — a “tribute website” like no other. It’s a living archive that carefully curates some of Jobs’s most lasting, inspiring “ideas.”

“With respect for the past and excitement for the future, the Steve Jobs Archive offers people the tools and opportunities to make their own contribution,” reads the website.

Including everything from his 2005 Stanford Commencement address to salient, prescient thoughts that stemmed from his appearance at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen, the site preserves the essence of the brilliant tech innovator for generations to come. Rather than a static memorial or library archive, the site aims to inspire future thinkers and leaders.

It also offers a lesson to all of us in how we manage our own personal brands. What legacy do we want to not just to leave behind, but start to build in real time? This is sure to launch a new trend. Yes, it offers a new way to memorialize those who passed, but it also sets an example for those living people of note who have a significant sway over our society — or simply aspire to move us the way Jobs did.

What we put out there for all to read bears a reputational responsibility. If we aim to have an impact that presents our best selves — and inspires others to embrace their own, in turn — then we have to be mindful of how we wield the power of our digital presence.

The speeches, emails, and private notes preserved in the Steve Jobs Archive paint a picture of a man who understood the full power of his words. Powell Jobs also knows this well. Through this site, she put a digital bookmark in place on her late husband’s brand. It’s a page that will forever be held open for us all to read.

It should spur us all to be mindful of how we manage our brands and choose to harness them powerfully to affect others.

For inspiration on the power of your online reputation, look no further than Jobs’s speech at Apple’s internal meeting in 2007: “make something wonderful and put it out there.”

 
 
Internet Legal Issues, , , , , , , ,
reputation management for lawyers

U.S. authorities fighting human trafficking have identified the Communications Decency Act as an obstacle to stopping the crime. Anti-trafficking groups agree. Free speech proponents beg to differ, though. So does Silicon Valley.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article showing both sides of the issue. “Is Backpage.com a Champion of Web Freedoms or a ‘Dystopian Hell’?”, by John. D. McKinnon, illustrates its complexity. The Communications Decency Act, a law passed in 1996, is the main reason why little can be removed from the Internet in the U.S.

As the Journal article points out, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com are among the tech companies that benefit from the Communications Decency Act.

We have written extensively about how the Communications Decency Act impacts online reputation management. If that is a topic of interest to you, then you will find Mr. McKinnon’s article illuminating.

 
 
Crisis Management, Internet Legal Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recent revelations about widespread hacking of celebrities’ accounts tell us a lot about the current state of online privacy and security.

While Cameron Diaz fairly called the hacking a “major violation” and Emma Watson noted that the reaction to the leaked photos has been even more disturbing, Kim Kardashian zeroed in on another important point. “I think it’s a big wake up call for people to make sure they have every privacy setting,” she told the BBC.

Steps to safety

Navigating the online world is part of our everyday lives, but the terrain can still be treacherous.

Despite the unwelcome attention, hacking victim Jennifer Lawrence has managed set a great example. By confronting the issue head-on, “she turned what could have been a minor embarrassment into marketing gold, reinforcing her own celebrity-brand values and differentiation,” writes Wall Street Journal columnist Gregory J. Millman.

Many tech companies have been reluctant to restrict questionable content such as the recently leaked photos (because of both free speech concerns and the valuable traffic they can bring), but there are signs of potential change. “Twitter, YouTube and others may ultimately decide to take a more active approach to policing user-generated content,” observes the New York Times’ Mike Isaac, and Facebook just introduced a new “Privacy Checkup” feature to help users manage what they share and with whom. Such steps might help, but for now the forecast for online privacy remains the same: cloudy with a chance of embarrassment.