Well after criticising Google a few weeks ago for thier Streetview tool…I’ve got to hand it to them. This week they’ve launched a couple of great new features. The Similar Images tool is a new way of searching for pictures, using images rather than words, and it works pretty well. There is also GoogleLabs, which offers users the chance to look at the thousands of new innovations the Google team are working on, and a chance to meet the developers.

GoogleTrends is also an entertaining way to spend a few minutes. You can look at what the top searches are in a number of different companies, by region and city and read news stories about each trend. There are also graphs showing the changing popularity of different trends and searches. GoogleTrends is genuinely useful for marketers and public relations practitioners looking for the next big thing.

But my favourite has to be GoogleTimeline. It chronologically orders and presents news already available in Google in a simple to use and appealing format. You can also select what type of news stories and features you want to search for. I think this is a genuinely useful tool, especially if you are researching something in particular. For example, search the timeline for the Iraq War and you get all the key dates and events laid out for you to examine. The timeline goes back to the 1400s, and even if you just want to look up things that happened on the day you were born, its great fun.

So after suffering a bit of a backlash over Streetview, Google have not been resting on their laurels and have come up with a couple of great new tools. Google’s mission statement is “…to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, and I think they have really delivered on this time. After doing some research for a recent university project into organisational identity, image and reputation, I found too many companies who did not live their values or embody their mission. Google’s commitment to their mission statement is the reason why they are the most popular search engine in the world. It’s a lesson for practitioners and marketers, that delivering on your promises to your stakeholders should be a primary concern.

Well, apparently you’re not the only one. A new term, ’snarking’, has entered our lexicon dedicated entirely to malicious internet gossip. Not a new phenomenon, but the fact it has its own name is a sign of its growth. David Denby, author of ‘Snark’ thinks its about time the reach snarking has is brought to our attention. The majority of internet users will be aware of chief snarking sites such as PerezHilton, Gawker and TMZ, in fact many of us have probably visited them and have a good laugh at the celebrities being mocked. A BBC news report this morning covered the campaign to halt online snarking and gave the very

Liskula Cohen

For PR practitioners and marketers the implications are clear; your company, organisation or client could well fall victim. Richard Stokoe, head of news at the Local Government Association (LGA), wrote a column in PR Week (06/03/09) detailing how the LGA had been the subject of ‘frittering’, or in plain English, fraudulent twittering. The fritterer was impersonating the LGA’s chief executive, using his picture, gaining followers (almost 500) and twittering frequently.

Stokoe and his media team discovered the identity impersonation by chance, and subsequently contacted Twitter urging it to remove the false profile. Three weeks later there is still no response from Twitter. Stokoe makes a compelling point in his column, “Web 2.0 has not only brought an entirely new way for organisations to communicate with people – it has also brought an entirely new way for people to damage the reputation of that very same organisation.”

Reputation management is also not a new concept, but with the advent of Web 2.0, a whole new industry dedicated to online reputation management and monitoring has been born. And its big business, with tools like Radian6, Sentiment Metrics and BuzzMonitor in wide use by vast numbers of organisation. Reputation is a vital yet intangible asset to an organisation or individual, it not only dictates how your stakeholders may feel about you or your organisation, but affects significant areas of business strategy. Projecting a strong brand image is essential, it can distinguish you from your competitors, help stakeholders recognise you in a crowded marketplace, cement repeat business, and attract positive media coverage. It is especially important during the current global recession as renowned American academics Fombrun and Van Riel have written, “Reputation is proving to be a resilient asset to some companies in a difficult marketplace.”

It seems an offensive strategy against snarking, frittering, and whatever other new term might appear in the next few weeks is the best way forward. Organisations and businesses may not recognise the business potential of social networking tools or internet engagement, but by staying out of the Web 2.0 sphere, they run the risk of being ignorant about what is being said concerning their business. And loss of reputation could sound the death knell for companies battling in this tough environment.