Clean up your online reputation: Is it possible? FACEBOOK notification: leaders of the future, please pay attention. If you're a woman intent on breaking through the glass ceiling to corporate stardom you may well find the world is looking up your skirt, thanks to those Facebook photos you posted from Schoolies way back when. For the blokes, the picture of you with the beery smile, a stubby in your mitt and your mate's V-sign on your head may not discourage that interview panel for your dream job, but the indelible records of you mooning the camera and slagging off your ex-girlfriend will tip the odds against you. Crimes of youth and insobriety are just a Google search away and whether its potential employers, partners or the police researching your past, social or career death can be the result. Social media expert, Atomic Digital Marketing director Stewart Dawes, says the most drastic mean - "Facebook suicide" - is not the solution for every offender. "If the material is simply too massive the best solution is to commit 'Facebook suicide', delete your account entirely and start again," said Mr Dawes, a search engine optimisation consultant, who also warns that having no social media presence can be almost as damaging. "You can simply go back and airbrush history, but don't leave it to someone else to do it for you," he said. No-one else will ever have the same passion and urgent focus as you when it comes to knowing where you've embarrassed yourself and going in there with the strongest virtual bleach possible and white-washing every erroneous post and tweet. The dilemma is worse for people with an established public profile: think Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk posing in a Californian gun shop. "It's possible to delete posts and tweets and they cannot be found again," Mr Dawes said. Of course if you're in the public eye, there will be someone keen to screen-grab your posts and tweets and such items can find their way onto TV very quickly. If you're more an average Joe you'll likely get away with it, but that's not a recommendation to take risks. It might seem facile, but getting on the positive love and light bandwagon on social media is a better long-term strategy than risking material that could see you ridiculed, losing career opportunities, getting sued or even imprisoned. Starting again is as easy as opening new accounts on the four social media platforms that count - Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Twitter allows you to change your username while keeping your existing followers. "Ultimately, social media - and the mainstream news process - is very much about the heat of the moment," Mr Dawes said. Within a few days, or even minutes, people forget what you did before, unless it personally aggrieved them. We live in an age where social media has inflated the merits of having a short attention span, so there's no problem with giving yourself a clean slate. For digital nobodies wanting to establish themselves in social media, a website should be the heart of their online presence. But if that is too time-consuming, or expensive, Mr Dawes recommends trying to get the same username across all accounts in the four major platforms. "It's not always possible," he said, "but especially when it comes to mentions between Twitter and Instagram, having the same username is a boon for awareness, click-throughs and therefore branding. Take advantage of the way that the social media platforms interact. Particularly having Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest posts linking straight to Twitter is a great aspect. It's good to keep an eye on any platform-interaction changes so you can exploit the opportunities that are available. International social media by-laws say you should always remember to say thank you when another person mentions or retweets you, let your community know when you are taking an online break and never say anything negative about another person. Mr Dawes advocates you treating your online presence "like a little radio show." Make people happy. Be involved, engage, be inspirational, champion others. Do it day by day.