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This is the VOA special english ecnomics report.
A reputation what people think of you good or bad is built one message at a time. The different today is that people can get their messages out to lots of other people, and lighting speed through websites and social media.
So, not surprasingly, an industry is fast developing around managering online reputations from individuals and bussinesses. "..have banning .. and purchasing decision ..online." Kanerfy Snaffskey is CEO of Webmax, a company he started in 2008. Webmax is a search engine optimazation or ACEO company.
Search engine optimazation involves different ways to improve the results of online searches. Webmax offer several different services. But Snaffskey says reputation management is growing the fastest.Some of his customs need help with urgen poblisity problems. Others are seeking long term management of their online image.
Mr.Snaff says about 1/5 of his bussiness, is with companies and individuals outside the US.
How do the reputation management work? Webmax has two sides to its bussiness. The company can organaze online poblicity compaise to try to limit the harmdone by nactive comments or bad news.Mr.Snaff says when the client get the news for the wrong reasons, his company does not try to hide what happend. Instead, it developes the campain to show that client is dealing with the problem in the productive and positive way, he says. In that sides, the work seems a lot like old fasion public relations,but in cyber space.
But what if clients are the target of lines or maybe and organazied effort to harm their reputation. Then Webmax would use its legal team to try to have the comments removed. "We realized ..just been in marketing fuction. There ..legal funtion involve they say, and marrying the two togehter it was really has impact then make it sucessful."
In the US, not all speech is protected by the constitude. And even if the comments are true, the threat of costly legal fight maybe enough to get them removed. Snaff thinks the legal side of reputation management is only going to grow. He says Webmax's profitable is expect ten to fifteen millions dollars in revenue this years.
Clients of company that manage reputations can pay thousands of dollars a month, or as little as hundred dollars a year. But here are some free advice. "If you are not pay attention ..said about online. You making a step because all the people are paying attention to that."
And that's economics report in VOA speical english.