| Twenty years ago, the internet in the home was | | | | ever easier. |
| nonexistent. Today, the internet has become its own | | | | So, when an employee of a company feels |
| metropolis, where people of all ages go to research, | | | | disgruntled, dissatisfied, or unhappy, or if a customer |
| play games, and interact socially with their peers. | | | | receives poor customer service, it is not implausible |
| The universal accessibility of the internet has made it | | | | that they should air their frustrations on their Facebook |
| possible for anyone to publish anything they | | | | page or blog. |
| desire--including their negative, even if unfounded, | | | | Competing companies also sometimes plant bad |
| thoughts on people and companies. Should their site | | | | reviews on Web 2.0 sites. And, as was stated before, |
| gain popular appeal, it could very easily seriously | | | | these sites by nature receive lots of traffic and tend to |
| damage one's reputation. That is why some people | | | | rise in the Google or Bing rankings. |
| have considered, and used, reputation management. | | | | The search engine rankings are vital to a company |
| Before hiring a company, it is important to understand | | | | that relies on the internet to generate a following. |
| how that negative comment about your company | | | | When a potential customer types the name of your |
| became a number one hit on a search engine to begin | | | | company into Google, Bing, or Yahoo, a list of websites |
| with. | | | | with those key words will appear, with the most |
| Increasing in popularity on the internet are Web 2.0 | | | | popular sites at the top of the list. If the most popular |
| sites. Basically, they are user-centered, interactive sites. | | | | site gives a negative view of your company, it might |
| Some of the popular ones include Youtube, for | | | | scare away previously interested customers. |
| user-uploaded videos, Flickr, for user-uploaded photos, | | | | So you as a company might have worked twenty |
| and Yelp, for user-submitted reviews. Also popular are | | | | years to establish a reputation, and because of one |
| Facebook and Twitter (social networking sites) and | | | | vengeful employee or customer, your internet-based |
| Wikipedia, where anyone with a computer can | | | | image could be seriously damaged. |
| contribute to the definition of any word or company. | | | | Sometimes, you can attempt to contact websites to |
| These sites tend to increase in search engine rankings | | | | remove material that is untrue, unfounded, and |
| because of their interactive nature. They often | | | | damaging to a company's reputation. However, users |
| experience frequent activity, making them more | | | | on Web 2.0 sites are difficult to contact. |
| popularly used and thus closer to the top of search | | | | This problem, if found unmanageable, may lead a one |
| engine results, which reputation management strives to | | | | to seek out a reputation management company to |
| remedy. Also, many of these sites have created | | | | remedy the problem. |
| now-popular iPhone apps, making using these sites | | | | |