WESTPORT, Conn., April 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- At about the same time that the noun "Google" evolved into the verb "to Google," the ever-evolving Internet created a new problem for senior executives and their PR handlers - dealing with an explosion of personal information about CEOs on the Web that threatens their privacy as well as the potential safety of their families.
And this is not just the usual corporate information - salaries, board memberships, greatest hits. No, this is personal stuff. Like kids' names. Home addresses. And private club memberships.
Sure, some of that stuff leaches into media coverage about high-profile CEOs like Jack Welch. And Hollywood celebrities have always been tabloid bait. But gone are the days when a diplomatic publicist could lean over and say to the reporter, "Gee, do you think you could keep that out of the story?" Once it's out there in the Google universe, it's staying out there, where it blends with a surprisingly large amount of other information.
Take CEO X. He's a talented executive who, in his early 50s, burst into the top ranks of Corporate America after a career in public service and second-in-command status at a private company bought out by a major financial services conglomerate.
While by no means Donald Trump-like in his pursuit of publicity, CEO X has not been shy in talking to the media, and has clearly benefited from positioning efforts by his PR handlers highlighting his rapid career rise and high-profile assignments. As a result, a Google News (http://news.google.com) search gives the obvious information - how much he makes, where he went to school, board memberships, etc. But it also gives details of his marriage (to his childhood sweetheart), how he gets to work in midtown Manhattan (commutes on Metro North), how many children he has (four), what he does for fun on weekends (coaches soccer), what else he does on the weekend (does the family's grocery shopping), as well as favorite professional sports team (New York Jets).
All of this can be gleaned from coverage in publications ranging from The Washington Post to USA Today to Newsweek. And Google serves it up in a minute or less time online. Want better and deeper penetration of trade publications, news websites and other online media? Go to NewsTrove.com (www.newstrove.com), which claims to troll more than 200,000 websites every day. Or try AllTheWeb.com (www.alltheweb.com) for pictures, video and audio searches on top of the usual media and web searches.
Want to see what disgruntled shareholders and aggressive short sellers are saying about CEO X in chat rooms? Go to Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com). It may not be pleasant.
Want more? Want what the media won't include, even if you're a disgraced executive like Martha Stewart, Bernie Ebbers or Richard Scrushy? Why not go to Info.com to find CEO X's home address and telephone number (http://whitepages.info.com)? And since you already know from your Google News search that his kids may go to public school, why not use Yahoo's map function (www.maps.yahoo.com) to find out where the schools are?
And speaking of kids, why not search for information about them that their schools and extracurricular organizations freely hand out. An alumni web page affiliated with the local high school cheerfully tells you where one of his children goes to college, what his school email address is, and what fraternity he's in. Another search offers up a college article written by one of his other children, complete with college email address. Google strikes again.
Curious about CEO X's political leanings? Well, go to FundRace 2004 Neighbor Search (www.fundrace.org) to find out who he backed in the 2004 election (John Edwards, with a $1,000 contribution). Neighbor Search also conveniently links his home address to a map-search function.
Had enough? Well, if not, the nice folks at PeopleData (www.peopledata.com) will sell you information about CEO X and members of his family, including his wife and at least one of his four children. Pay for "premium" service and you'll get all available public records found for CEO X, delivered by email in 24 hours or less. Information includes: criminal records, family members, unlisted telephone numbers, current and previous addresses, home ownership, real property values, law suits, liens, judgments, current and previous roommates and neighbors.
What does all of this mean? It means the PR game has changed forever. It means that any piece of information about your CEO is on the record. And not just on the record, but permanently on the record, with details available online through a few keystrokes on your keyboard. Most of it's free. And it all lives forever in the Google universe.
What can we do, as practitioners of the arcane art of public relations, to protect our CEOs from overexposure -or worse - in the Google universe? Here's our list:
1. Start from the assumption that nothing's a secret on the Web.
-- Go to Google and Google News before any interview or media
outreach - the reporter doing the interview will.
-- Use the information in prepping for the interview,
inserting talking points that address or clarify existing
misinformation on the Web.
2. Implement a "Google strategy."
-- Audit what's available on the Web about your CEO and
correct what you know is incorrect.
-- Let your CEO know about the rest, particularly the stuff
that talks about spouses, children, etc.
-- Create "data base stuffers" that highlight the information
you want to emphasize - for example, your CEO's charitable
work or opinion-leader activities - to support overall
positioning and push "bad" Google citations further
down into the data base.
3. Be honest with your CEO.
-- Tell them the truth - that virtually all of the personal
and sensitive information that gets into media coverage
comes from their own mouths, whether in interviews on
corporate issues or non-corporate activities like hobbies,
clubs, schools...as well as divorces and litigation.
-- And just because they say it in an interview with their
friendly hometown newspaper or sympathetic trade magazine
doesn't mean that it won't get picked up by Google or one
of its many competitors - because it will.
But what lessons does all of this have for the rest of us, both in our business and personal lives? Just this - anything you say or do, any form you sign or donation you make, anything your kids' schools say about them (and schools have enthusiastically embraced the Google universe) is available to anyone, at any time, either free or for a nominal charge. Because that's life in the Google universe.
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