Online Reputation, Online PR and Search Engine Reputation

Reputation is a very important asset. May it be corporate or personal. It is base from the collective perception of different people. For corporations, a positive reputation means confidence from its stakeholders which, consequently creates patronage and good returns. For individuals, a negative reputation may mean disapproval from prospective employer, rejection from a boy/girl you like, and missed opportunities.

Public Relations, the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its stakeholders, deals with perception, reputation and managing both.

The Internet technology, particularly the Web 2.0, has empowered the people to proactively communicate their opinions on something or someone and share experiences to other people. The growing number of internet users which, according to World Internet Usage Statistics, is growing at 305.5% annually, stirs the need for Online PR.

Online PR practices the management of information available online. Online Reputation , is the general evaluation of the stakeholders toward an individual or company in the Internet. Search Engine Reputation is the quality of Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) generated by the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

I think the next logical question is how to do online PR, ORM and SERM. Three steps: Monitor, Optimize and Engage- three steps which I’ll discuss further in my next posts.