Companies need to learn that reputation management goes far beyond the traditional stuff. Negative comments can last a long, long time.

I can’t say that I disagree with you, especially given your example, but I’m skeptical (not of your argument) of companies of that seemingly seem overjoyed to place people in some sort of advisory capacity as a means to shoo them away. I’ve been involved in politics and I see many overcontrol-the-message mentality to the point that it’s disappointing.

That being said, disparaging comments should come with some sort of explanation. “Your product sucks” doesn’t work.

As reputation becomes more important, Google and the other search engines are going to have to separate credibility and popularity. I shouldn’t have to police Google’s links, they should!

Based on my own experience, I’ve begun to work with people on the topic of managing their own “online reputations” or online “personal brands,” which is a part of this whole phenomenon. Reputation management is nothing new, but we are in an age of so much less control and the search engines mean that content - whether true or untrue - can literally last forever. Google’s algorithm, in particular, tends to reward popularity, not credibility which can obviously pose a problem for anyone who is public enough to draw attention and commentary.

My message is always the same: control your own destiny on the web. Create your own digital personality, your own content. And - in the case of your post allowing people to NOT post comments that are clearly not meant honestly or authentically - I’d say that our messages fit together perfectly.

Thanks for the post.

I stopped reading their blog(s). It was clear that they didn’t want to be open and honest with me, they wanted to try to hide the issue. The optimal time for them to post would have been during the outage to let people know they were on top of it. Instead, they’ve lost all credibility with me. ]]>