What do you do when you’re browsing through Google, checking yourself out as you like to do every now and then, and you discover that someone has written something about you, or your company, that is untrue. Or even worse, that is true but you didn’t want anyone to know?
What do you do? You call Web Dusters!
Well that’s my name for them. They call themselves “Reputation Defenders” or “Online Reputation Managers”. These are companies you hire, either per task or on retainer, who look out for nasties in the woodpile.
It can be a pretty big woodpile, too. It’s not unusual for a medium-sized company to come up with a few million references when they’re searched for on Google or Bing.
The Web Dusters vacuum their way through this and winkle out unappealing references.
Of course this is a labour of Sisyphus - the bloke who spends eternity pushing a boulder uphill every day, only for it to roll down every night. It’s a job without end.
The dusting reaches far and wide. Wikipedia is a huge reference where a person or company can be misunderstood. It’s nice to be in an encyclopaedia, but not if the reference points out wrongful or unflattering events.
Even worse, Wikileaks waits for any secret tit-bit to slip into its grasp. And we all know what a hard time that has given the world’s governments.
Two years ago a YouTube video showed two Domino’s Pizza employees doing gross things to their pizzas in the back room. It was a sensation viewed around the globe and the couple was actually prosecuted. But not before it had done millions of dollars’ worth of damage to the company’s sales.
Reputation Manager Australia is a local company that offers its watchdog services. They give the example of a web search on a businessman who quickly became their client.
The search of his name had brought up, in the first three responses, a reference to an ASIC investigation report. It was harsh and recounted the agency’s prosecution of him, leading to his being banned for a time.
Owner David Cannell boasts that he was able to push the client’s reference down the queue to oblivion.
Another rich vein of business is our sporting world. Working with sports clubs, he has ways to keep their champions’ antics out of the public eye.
Of course there is also a do-it-yourself element in the black-blogging trade. Company staff are encouraged to write glowing reviews about their restaurant or hotel - incognito of course. And then they go on their opponents’ sites and complain about bad food and poor service.
These too can be dusted out.
But you have to be careful not to get caught. Recently the PR goliath Burson-Marsteller was sprung when they were asked by client Facebook to do a little internet spying on their rival Google. Unfortunately whoever was given the task asked the wrong person. He turned out to be a whistle-blower who blasted the story across the web.
Mind you, considering that the US online advertising market is now worth $28 billion, you can understand a little frisky competition.
There is now official interest in all this skullduggery. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission prosecuted a PR company, Reverb Communications. They had a side business writing glowing reviews on video games, and charging the developer for the service.
The FTC slapped the company on the hand and warned everybody else not to post fraudulent reviews, either for themselves or for their opponents. No doubt the industry looked up from their monitors, nodded acknowledgement, and went back to writing reviews.
Call out the Web Dusters!
ray@ebeatty.com
