Online Reputation Managers

Companies and high-profile individuals have always been concerned about bad publicity because negative word-of-mouth results in lower sales (for companies), fewer votes (for politicians), or fewer sales or reduced interest by fans (for actors, musicians, artists, etc.).

The stakes became higher in the mid- and late-1990s when the first social networks and blogs were launched, and often anonymous negative content emerged that would remain on the Internet forever. At this time, many large companies and celebrities became concerned about managing their digital image, or brand, and began hiring online reputation managers to eliminate or hide negative content and post positive information.

Today, the increasingly negative and often duplicitous world of social media has prompted strong demand for online reputation managers—not only from business and high-profile individuals, but also from regular people who are afraid negative online content will keep them from being accepted by their dream college or landing a top job, or otherwise will adversely affect their reputations.