It’s official! Social media is hogging all of the limelight and should you land in a crisis you’ll have a tough time finding your way out. Thwarting online reputation crisis on social networks is not the easy job you think it is, and very few people know the right way to deal with a mess.

Krystal Ball, a 28 year old running for Congress in Virginia, is one such person who has landed in a soup. A few days ago, racy photos of her attending a Christmas party few years back did the rounds on the internet. The photos released by an undisclosed source at the most inapt timing (for her) quickly went viral. The pictures themselves and Ball’s responses to the same were so huge that it soon evolved as a national story. For more of the story click here.

The embarrassing photos even had magazines write about her in the following lines

“No female candidate would ever survive a race for Senate with a photo spread like that in her past. It’s unthinkable. The double standard is appalling.”

Anyone would think that’s enough damage done! But, not Krystal!

Now here’s the reputation management part of the story. What did Krystal Ball do?

• She immediately made a public appearance to voice her opinion and suggested the whole thing was an unnecessary distraction. Ball did acknowledge that the pictures portrayed her and added:

“Of course it’s embarrassing, but more than that, I’m pretty angry about it. I think this is incredibly sexist. I think it’s outrageous.”

In the hyper speed social world there are few catchy stories that manage to grab the attention of the audience for very long and so what Krystal Ball did was just right from the Reputation management point of view…she addressed the issue and moved on!

• Her response was as clear as it was quick. Characterizing the release of the photos as a smear campaign she wrote a protracted blog post

“The tactic of making female politicians into whores is nothing new. Society has to accept that women of my generation have sexual lives that are going to leak into the public sphere”.

Many would agree she has a point there!

Lessons young candidates (women in particular, one could say) could learn from Krystal Ball on how to deal with social media crisis

1. Ball was quick enough to turn the photo scandal into a genuine campaign issue.
2. As a person who was struggling to grab attention and media coverage for her campaign, Krystal was smart to make this issue a platform from where she could start.
3. Krystal Ball spoke out and cast herself as a diplomat fighting against the sexist double standard and even making a point that this sort of a scandal could keep the new generation of young women from running for office. Well, could have impressed a few.

So in short, not only did Krystal Ball manage the social media crises pretty well but she also converted it into a platform for her campaign. However, in these times of anything for publicity, who released the photos is still a question unanswered and for now let’s leave it at that.

It was only a year ago that Kevin Rudd was compared to Australia’s most popular leader Bob Hawke, but today he is coming to terms with the disreputable fact of being tagged “the most unsuccessful Prime Minister in Australian history”, the shortest serving one as well. And his once -  popular campaign slogan “Kevin 07″  is today subverted to “Kevin 07, Gone By 11.” So where had he gone wrong?

Right from angering MPs, an unravelling personal image, getting no support in opinion polls and a series of other events (which were definitely not favourable for him) that finally culminated in Kevin Rudd being dumped by the Labour party and forced to hand over his office to Julia Gillard (Australia’s first woman Prime Minister), the reputation of Kevin Rudd has been badly damaged for quite some time now. And the speed of his demise showed the extent to how bad it was!

People who felt fooled at the last election were desperately looking for a hero in Kevin Rudd. How far did he meet their expectations? Mistakes were many, right from ratifying Kyoto to apologising to the stolen generation and the people who elected him to power felt he forgot why they got him to power.

One can get a fair idea of how Kevin Rudd’s reputation got drowned in the sea of the very same people who elected him to power from their views . Most of the people in the streets are of the opinion that Rudd failed in implementing most of the economic policies he himself introduced. The muffed home insulation farce, the school halls building program and the $900 stimulus handout are just a few examples. Finally to top it off , Rudd attacked the mining industry, which is the backbone of the Australian economy. Well now, the reputation of a PM obviously depends a lot on how far you are able to carry out the new economic policies introduced and failing to meet it will have consequences similar to the one Kevin Rudd had to go through.

There are people who say that Rudd has not kept a single election promise since being put in the PMs office. Earlier this week the media were saying that he only won the election because of his wife’s media campaign to get him into power. And, to say you have not kept promises is pretty bad from the reputation management point of view for a PM.

Past experiences whether it was in the case of Gordon Brown or Kevin Rudd speaks out the fact that PMs and politicians will have to keep in mind  that people are empowered to throw anyone out of political office and hence they will have to above all maintain their reputation without any blemish at all.

As regards Kevin Rudd the only good news for him is that he does have a few people with him, who do believe that a PM being human can make mistakes or that Australia is not ready for a PM like Kevin Rudd.

But now with Kevin Rudd declaring (almost pledging) he will contest his seat of Griffith in Queensland at the next election, and http://www.google.com.au/ giving suggestions like “Kevin Rudd sorry” and “Kevin Rudd apology” for people typing his name at the same time, Kevin Rudd will have a hard job clawing back support and it necessarily does call for some serious reputation management too!

Regardless of his impeccable credentials as a diplomat and him being the emerging face of Indian politics, Shashi Tharoor was recently made to resign from his post of Minister of State for External Affairs, on the grounds of illegal use of his office. Being a writer, sportsman, politician and above all a top UN diplomat, Tharoor was in a soup with nothing much to prove his part clean.

Ousted by Congress, Tharoor might not have ever dreamt of such an exit with allegation from all sides including no support for him from his very own ruling party. Well, seems Tharoor failed to score when it came to build a good PR internally in his party, though he enjoys over 700,000 followers in Twitter. Alleged for being involved in the auction of the Kochi team in the IPL, Tharoor never thought in his scariest dream, that his love for Kerala will turn up to him in such a fashion.

Being an ardent twitterer Tharoor’s (@ShashiTharoor) message have irked his party for a couple of occasions in the past, he was the first minister who came out open via Twitter and tried to connect with the masses. If Mr Tharoor would have used his social networking and twittering skills which is something new to Indian politics, to clear the air about the alleged scandal, then he would not have landed in such a mess, and the damage would have been minimized. Tharoor’s flamboyant persona and cool attitude had enough supporters on twitter, but being a politician Tharoor needed to distinguish his private and public life, before flaunting his girlfriend openly. All this has raised several repercussion, with the big question, whether Shashi Tharoor is a mis-fit in the Indian political scenario?

Claiming innocence in Lok Sabha Tharoor  said, “My conscience is clear and I know I have done nothing improper or unethical”

Whatever be the case, we at Reputation Management For.com strongly feel that Shashi Tharoor needs to make sure that he comes up strong over all these controversies and restructure his political reputation. He needs a well defined PR strategy in parliament to successfully make up for his lost glory.

The White House seems defensive and even apologetic to a growing number of people in the US and they are growing in numbers. The Tea Party Convention is the most striking example of the culmination of anti Obama views. This is a very large group of people against the healthcare plan and the large amount of taxes they are being charged by the Obama government.

Quick to ride the Tea-Party wave is Sarah Palin, who with her appearance as a speaker at the convention, made it clear she has her sights set on the presidency. Palin has been clawing her way out of bad press,  planning out her candidacy  after resigning as governor. She has penned a book and is now a political commentator on FoxNews and the stage was set at the Tea Party Convention when she said…

“This is about the people, and it’s bigger than any king or queen of a Tea Party. And it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter”

Palin took a dig at Obama at the tea party convention and has even gone on to say if its right for America she is ready to run for President in 2012.

“Now a year later, I got to ask the supporters of all that, how is that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you”

Statements from Palin, quite like the ones used during election campaigns.

Bad press continues: The speaker’s fee of $100,000 paid to Sarah Palin has been in the news and Palin has claimed it does not go to her but to her party’s campaigning fund but this had been dogging her. Other news reports talk of how involved her husband Todd Palin has been in the Alaska governance.

Sarah Palin is simply great bad press material, sometimes ridicule and most importantly great NEWS! One thing’s for sure Palin is everywhere and there she will remain for a long time to come.

As for the Democrats, it will be unwise on their part to take her lightly, the US has elected movie stars like Regan to the White House and even the first mixed race President in Obama, so could a woman be far behind? ?

If Obama bungles up on the healthcare program and the national security issues and continue to remain on the defensive chances are Sarah Palin is right there to take his place.

For now even the Tea Party Convention don’t want her as their leader but in the times we are in, the Democrats better be wary even though Sarah Palin may seem like no Margaret Thatcher or Indira Gandhi!

The Sarah Palin brand chugs on and she as a politician is building up both her celebrity and her reputation.

Have the public lost faith in MPs? The expenses file shows MPs more than half the entire House of Commons are involved in the controversial expenses scandal. They exploited the system of parliamentary allowances to promote their lifestyles and homes. The revelation has angered many voters and the reputation of the MPs has taken a beating.

People at large knew nothing until the scandal was out in the open and how MPs claimed for items far beyond what was allowed. Change in the system was voiced, but unfortunately there weren’t many takers. The after effect of not heeding that advise is all out in black & white.

It’s not easy to get this scandal off the mind of the taxpayers. While some MPs are guilty for the wrongdoing it has tarnished everyone in the house of Commons with the same brush.

So what does this mean? Is there a need for an urgent damage control to restore public faith?

A need for a strategic reputation management to get back the lost glory. There is no quick-fix method to fix the problem, but MPs need to realize that they are  the representatives of their constituency and are not traders.

Politics and politicians are definitely not immune to bad press or negative comments, the above scandal shows how a politicians online reputation can go for a ride even if you are not at fault. You need to apprise the public your accomplishments, and what you are planning to do. This will allow people to respond positively and garner faith in the system.

David Cameron, when said ‘all MPs who do not repay will be sacked and be termed not eligible for election. This is a welcome statement and will infuse confidence in public, and also minimize the resentment in public for those in the House of Commons.

Politician’s reputation holds greater significance as electorate comprising of different age and group will have a common thinking about their representative, which makes sense to them. Let your positive image be known to the public, after all that is all you need to face the polls.