How’s my reputation online?
When you hear the word “reputation,” you’re likely to think back to your high school days. The labels flew freely: geek, jock, nerd, freak, prep, and a few that are substantially less flattering.
The good news is that you’re not in high school anymore. The bad news is you own or work for a company, and that company has a reputation – and a label – just like you did in high school. But what is your company’s label? Is it good, or is it one of the less flattering ones?
It changes between medias
For one thing, just like in the real world the virtual world is made up of communities. Just look at the map of the internet. Each of these communities work of voluntary adherence which means that people from all over the world freely sort themselves among different online communities with difference ideals.
For instance, if you’re a strong Christian you will never have a good image on Digg. However, if you love Ron Paul, digg will love you. Other studies have shown that facebook and myspace display a stark dichotomy in their user base.
All of that is to say that even if you’re immensely popular someone, somewhere will still not like you.
Google is probably one of the most widely loved companies in the world and there is plenty of criticism for the way they do things.
One way to look for bad commentary on your business is to add negative search strings to a google query. For instance, if you want to find only negative feedback for a company, say “Barnes and Nobles” try searching google for
barnes and nobles stinks
or
Barnes and nobles, problems
This will yield mostly negative results and allow you to find sources and possible communities for negative feedback.
Another good way to keep up on the latest news involving your corporate image is with Google alerts. It’s very easy to use and setup.
For a more indepth look at dealing with specific blogs and posts there is an article on Review-Feed.com about this very subject entitled Dealing with blogger blow back.