Online reputation management
Under reputation management or online reputation management ( acronym ORM ) monitoring and influencing the will call a person, an organization or a product in digital media understood. Digital media are understood to mean digital publications and user-generated content .
Action
In the first step, search queries with the name of the person or organization are formulated in online search engines . The results are continuously monitored. As far as negative or incorrect information emerges or even predominates, one tries to counteract by active measures. This often includes spreading online profiles, websites and fake posts on social media that are designed to manipulate public sentiment and convey a positive image. As long as the principles of search engine optimization (SEO) are followed, it can succeed in suppressing the unwanted information at least from the first pages of a search engine query. Trying to get the operator of a website or forum to remove an unwanted post is seldom successful, and the Streisand effect can have the opposite consequences. Even if a website operator removes a contribution, it is saved in the cache and z. B. Internet Archive mostly still available. Online reputation management is not a one-off measure, it is a continuous task. ORM is also offered as a service, primarily for companies. There are also software packages and online services that are designed to help with online reputation management.
Online reputation management for companies
Online reputation management for companies is particularly important in the event of a crisis, for example a food scandal to prevent a shit storm .
Online reputation management for people
Online reputation management for people is part of self-marketing . For the selection of job applicants, in addition to the self-portrayal in the application itself, their activities in blogs , forums , wikis and social networks are increasingly being used .
Online reputation management in politics
Online reputation management is often used by political parties , political organizations, or directly by politicians as a public relations strategy. The basic goal is to proactively shape public perception. In the case of negative mentions on the Internet such as blogs, forums, social media and search engines, reputation management plays a special role. Here an attempt is made to dilute the negative image with various methods and ultimately to maintain a positive perception in the public. With the increasing use of the Internet, online reputation management is playing an increasingly important role in politics.
See also
literature
- Andy Beal, Judy Strauss: Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online . John Wiley and Sons, New York 2009, ISBN 0-470-57780-0 .
- Christian Scherg, character assassination on the Internet. This is how companies, institutions and private individuals can defend themselves . Ambition Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942821-01-8
- Thomas Neubner: Whoever sits in a glass house. Job search and application in the theater of the cyber age. In: 360 degrees. Journal for Politics and Society, issue 1/2010. (Articles on cyber sociology and online reputation management)
- Gillian Tett : Why we trust the cyber crowd , in: Financial Times , October 24, 2015, p. 8