八卦网站创始人的网络声誉管理宝典

    据诗人与股评员网站Poets&Quants报道——今年夏天，正当他在斯坦福大学商学院（Stanford Graduate School of Business）MBA班的多数同学对享誉全球的大企业待遇丰厚的实习职位趋之若鹜时，玛特•伊维斯特却整天躲在学校图书馆里面。他对麦肯锡（McKinsey）、高盛（Goldman）、亚马逊（Amazon）以及苹果（Apple）等大公司一点也不感兴趣。

    现年27岁的伊维斯特利用研一这个暑假撰写了这本长达136页的书，自己贴钱出版，书名叫《开怀大笑之后……糟了！——网络声誉管理学生必读》（lol…OMG! – What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying）。该书已于10月10日出版发行，内容是告诫读者社交网络的潜在风险。

    虽然不少人会觉得伊维斯特决定不利用暑假打工显得有些不务正业，但是这位斯坦福大学MBA班的高才生可一点儿也不后悔。“斯坦福是国内培育企业家的最好摇篮，因此我不觉得我的举动有多另类，”他说，“斯坦福MBA的牌子很硬，好工作嘛，等我以后想好了再找也来得及。”

    他就是这样的人。白手起家办网站的经验教训更容易引起他的思考并成书与众人分享。伊维斯特对这方面非常了解。他四年前创办的八卦校园网JuicyCampus.com很快成为全国最大的高校闲话网站，每月独立访问量高达一百万次。不过后来学生之间出现了对同窗太过亲密甚至多有冒犯的言论，包括性史、涉毒和以暴力相威胁，这一发现让他很震惊。

    这个以“永远匿名，八卦不止”作为口号的网站开始失控，以致于一些学生自律组织要求学校机房管理员切断对八卦校园网的访问。忧心忡忡的学生、家长以及机房管理员们发来了数百封信件。八卦校园网甚至卷入了两起当地检察机关介入调查的案件。

    “网站已然失控，我当时年仅24岁，对这一切无能为力，也没有使之悬崖勒马的经验，” 伊维斯特说，“我感到茫然无助，也不能将网站一关了事——我雇的工作人员还指望我养活他们；我已经花费了大量风险投资，需要回报投资者。”

    在耗尽了投资者一百万美元后，伊维斯特再也找不到人来注资，不得不于2009年2月关停了网站。不过这次出师不利的教训伴随着社交网络对现实世界的冲击一直在他脑海里挥之不去。为此，伊维斯特急切地想写本书来指导学生们该如何在网上塑造自己的形象以及对待他人。

    (Poets&Quants) -- While most of his MBA classmates at Stanford Graduate School of Business rushed off to lucrative internships with some of the world's most prestigious firms this past summer, Matt Ivester holed up in the school's library. He had no interest in McKinsey or Goldman, Amazon or Apple.

    Instead, 27-year-old Ivester used the summer before his second year at Stanford to write a 136-page self-published book called lol…OMG! – What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying. The book, published Oct. 10, alerts readers to the potential dangers of social networks.

    While many would consider Ivester's decision to skip a summer internship somewhat frivolous, the Stanford MBA has no regrets. "Stanford is the best school in the country for entrepreneurship so I don't think it's that crazy," he says. "A Stanford MBA is incredibly well respected so I think I could get those big jobs later on in my career if I decide to do that."

    So for him, it was an easy decision to reflect on what he had learned as a web entrepreneur and to share it with others in book form. Ivester knows this territory well. Four years ago, he created JuicyCampus.com, which quickly became the biggest college gossip website in the country, with one million unique visitors per month. And then he watched in awe and horror as students began posting intimate and often offensive remarks about their peers -- including sexual histories, accusations of drug use, and threats of violence.

    The site -- with the slogan "Always Anonymous, Always Juicy" -- veered so out of control that some student governments asked administrators to block access to JuicyCampus. Hundreds of emails poured in from upset students, parents, and administrators. JuicyCampus even became the subject of two investigations by attorneys general.

    "The site was out of control, and at 24, I simply didn't have the wherewithal or the experience to rein it in," says Ivester. "I felt trapped, unable to simply shut the site down -- I had employees counting on me for their livelihoods, and I had spent a lot of venture capital money with the expectation of a return on investment."

    After burning through $1 million in investors' money, Ivester shut the site down in February of 2009 after he was unable to get anyone else to ante up more cash. But the lessons from the debacle still linger along with the real-world impact of social media. So Ivester badly wanted to write a guide to help students think about the way they portray themselves and the way that they treat others online.