The opinion of customers about companies are very important as this can influence a company’s profit. Companies often get customer feedback via surveys or other official methods in order to improve their services. However, some customers feel threatened when their opinions are publicly asked and thus prefer to voice their opinion on the internet where they take comfort in anonymity. This form of customer feedback is difficult to monitor as the information can be found anywhere on the internet and new information is generated at an astonishing rate. Currently there are companies such as Brandseye and Brand.Com that provide online reputation management services. These services have various shortcomings such as cost and is incapable of accessing historical data. Companies are also not allowed to purchase these software and can only use the software on a subscription basis. The design proposed in this document will be able to scan any number of user defined websites and save all the information found on the websites in a series of index files, which can be queried for occurrences of user defined keywords at any time. Additionally, the software will also be able to scan Twitter and Facebook for any number of user defined keywords and save any occurrences of the keywords to a database. After scanning the internet, the results will be passed through a similarity filter, which will filter out insignificant results as well as any duplicates that might be present. Once passed through the filter the remaining results will be analysed by a sentiment analysis tool which will determine whether the sentence in which the keyword occurs is positive or negative. The analysed results will determine the overall reputation of the keyword that was used. The proposed design has several advantages over current systems: - By using the modular design several tasks can execute at the same time without influencingeach other. For example; information can be extracted from the internet while existing resultsare being analysed. - By providing the keywords and websites that the system will use the user will have full controlover the online reputation management process. - By saving all the information contained in a website the user will be able to take historicalinformation into account to determine how the keywords reputation changes over time. Savingthe information will also allow the user to search for any keyword without rescanning theinternet. The proposed system was tested and successfully used to determine the online reputation of many user defined keywords. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The opinion of customers about companies are very important as this can influence a company’s profit. Companies often get customer feedback via surveys or other official methods in order to improve their services. However, some customers feel threatened when their opinions are publicly asked and thus prefer to voice their opinion on the internet where they take comfort in anonymity. This form of customer feedback is difficult to monitor as the information can be found anywhere on the internet and new information is generated at an astonishing rate. Currently there are companies such as Brandseye and Brand.Com that provide online reputation management services. These services have various shortcomings such as cost and is incapable of accessing historical data. Companies are also not allowed to purchase these software and can only use the software on a subscription basis. The design proposed in this document will be able to scan any number of user defined websites and save all the information found on the websites in a series of index files, which can be queried for occurrences of user defined keywords at any time. Additionally, the software will also be able to scan Twitter and Facebook for any number of user defined keywords and save any occurrences of the keywords to a database. After scanning the internet, the results will be passed through a similarity filter, which will filter out insignificant results as well as any duplicates that might be present. Once passed through the filter the remaining results will be analysed by a sentiment analysis tool which will determine whether the sentence in which the keyword occurs is positive or negative. The analysed results will determine the overall reputation of the keyword that was used. The proposed design has several advantages over current systems: - By using the modular design several tasks can execute at the same time without influencingeach other. For example; information can be extracted from the internet while existing resultsare being analysed. - By providing the keywords and websites that the system will use the user will have full controlover the online reputation management process. - By saving all the information contained in a website the user will be able to take historicalinformation into account to determine how the keywords reputation changes over time. Savingthe information will also allow the user to search for any keyword without rescanning theinternet. The proposed system was tested and successfully used to determine the online reputation of many user defined keywords. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Background: With digitalization, the increased use of the World Wide Web and social media combined with the aware and engaged costumer, the conditions of reputation management are also evolving (Beal & Strauss, 2008; Jones et al., 2009). Startups’ circumstances are even more challenging, in terms of several limitations, increased risks and uncertainties (Bortolini et al. 2021). Thus, reputation management strategies need to develop and adapt to current changes. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how startups currently are managing their online reputation in a digital age and what kind of challenges they are facing. Based on the discoveries of this study the research will later discuss how strategies can be adjusted and improved to support startups in establishing and protecting their image and brand in an exposed and vulnerable landscape. Method: To answer the research question, four semi-structured online interviews with different startups were conducted and secondary data was observed. These case studies cover startups operating in different industries and respondents with different roles and experiences of reputation management. Through this variation, the empirical data could achieve comprehensive and nuanced insights. Findings: The gathered empirical data revealed that startups face several challenges when managing their online reputation due to their unique context. In a small startup, everyone is involved in engaging with stakeholders, monitoring the public’s perception, as well as contributing to a strong image, and building brand equity. Because of startups’ limitations, priorities are creating personal long-term relationships, networking, and gaining trust and loyalty to build reputation.  Conclusion: Recommendations for startups to manage their reputation more efficiently is practicing transparency to avoid misunderstandings that could damage the reputation, spread a consistent message to the public to establish a strong image, as well as ensuring that their performance conforms with their promises and planted perceptions. Adopting automatic and preventative tools to monitor information without human resources should also be considered. However, there is a need for further research in this field to continue exploring more efficient reputation management strategies tailored to startups’ conditions in the digital age.

With this immensely and immeasurably growing Internet technology, the need for onlinereputation management (ORM) is also growing accordingly. It is increasingly seen as animportant means by firms to create stronger alliance between customers and the firm (Bealand Strauss, 2008). ORM is relatively new which theoretically and empirically very youngphenomenon in which very few researches have been made around the area ever since.Hence, the intention of this research is to fill the knowledge gaps recognized and useEricsson Company to conduct an exploratory qualitative research to give empirical value tothe study.The purpose of this study is to explore how ORM can play role in making strategic businessdecisions through branding and construct a model that shows relationship among ORM,branding and strategic business decision. The relevant research concepts that are discussedin the literature review are linked through logical links depicted in the model.After the model is constructed Ericsson Company was taken as a case and qualitative study was made using an in-depth interview with the company’s expert in this area in Ericssonglobal to see how the concept of ORM, branding and strategic decisions in the model areinterlinked to each other. This research has answers on how this company perform its ORM,how ORM can influence branding, how branding can influence strategic business decisionand in the end how ORM can influence strategic business decision.From the finding of this research, ORM has influence on branding and brand has influenceon strategic business decision. Finally, it can also be concluded that ORM has impact on strategic business decisions through branding.

With privacy settings on social networking sites (SNS) perceived as complex and difficult to use and maintain, young adults can be left vulnerable to others accessing and using their personal information. Consequences of not regulating the boundaries their information on SNS include the ability for current and future employers to make career-impacting decisions based upon their online reputation that may include disqualifying them as job candidates. On SNS, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, young adults must decide on how to manage their online reputation by regulating boundaries to their own personal and professional information and identities. One known practice for the regulation of boundaries is the use of multiple profile management (MPM), where users of SNS create and use multiple accounts on a SNS and separate the social and professional identities that they disclose publicly and privately. The purpose of the study was to understand the lived experiences of young adults in how they regulate boundaries on SNS, through the use of MPM, as they manage their online reputation to different audiences. The practice was studied by applying interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) through interviewing young adults of 18-23 years of age, who use MPM on a SNS. Semi-structured interviews permitted participants to provide in-depth descriptions of their lived experiences. Eight themes were identified and described based on the analysis of the interviews that include: SNS use with online audiences, motivations for using MPM, the processes for the presentation of self, online search results, privacy settings, untagging SNS posts, self-editing and censorship, and new features. The themes describe the complexity and challenges that young adults face with regulating boundaries with their professional and social identities online through the use of MPM. Findings from this study have implications for a variety of audiences. Through the findings of this study, SNS developers can introduce new features, improve usability related to privacy management, and further encourage use of their networks. Users of SNS can use this study to understand risks of using SNS and for learning of practices for how to manage their online reputation on SNS.

This essay examines corporate reputation and reputation management online, where destinations were selected as an example of a reputation-dependent industry with special terms. The aim of this study is to examine how Swedish destinations strategically manage their reputation online. Furthermore, the thesis sees into six destinations in Sweden using a theoretical approach on how companies work with their reputation to prevent and nurture their reputation online from a public relations perspective. The result showed that the destinations work actively online to maintain their reputation. Their primary critical stakeholders are politicians and their visit nutrition, their secondary stakeholders are in the long term their own residents. The result also showed that the digitalization has led to both challenges and opportunities. There is thus, an internal challenge in finding resources and an external challenge to compete globally. The destinations determinedly work to measure and monitor their reputation online, but see management as complex today. This study concludes that some areas of online reputation management are found to be applicable for companies in general, but mainly Swedish destinations. In conclusion the study presents a model on how companies proactively can manage their reputation from a public relations point of view.

[pt] Com crescente número de sites de consumo colaborativo, cresce também a necessidade de se criar ambientes online que permitam a geração de confiança entre indivíduos desconhecidos a partir de sistemas de reputação. Os sistemas de reputação online têm a função de coletar informações de comportamentos passados dos usuários para tentar prever seus comportamentos futuros. Diversos estudos sobre o assunto surgiram nos últimos anos, porém esses estudos apresentam definições de reputação online e descrições de sistemas de reputação que desconsideram o indivíduo, alvo da reputação, como agente formador de sua própria reputação, ou seja, para esses estudos, a reputação de um indivíduo pode ser influenciada apenas por terceiros. Este estudo esteve focado na geração de reputação em sites de hospedagem entre indivíduos, ou seja, sites que possibilitam que anfitriões (prestadores de serviço) aluguem seus imóveis ou parte deles, como um quarto, para hóspedes (consumidores), que na maioria das vezes são desconhecidas. O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar se o alvo da reputação (anfitrião) poderia ser um agente influenciador de sua própria reputação online e se essa influência poderia gerar informações formadoras de reputação com mais qualidade. Além disso, buscou-se saber se esse envolvimento ativo do anfitrião gerou reputações mais precisas e consequentemente afetou a confiança e a desconfirmação de terceiros. Para realizar esse estudo, foi proposto um novo modelo gerador de reputações online e foram realizados 4 experimentos que buscaram investigar a influência do alvo da reputação: (1) na qualidade das suas informações de reputação; (2) na percepção de sua reputação por terceiros; (3) no impacto na confiança online de terceiros sobre ele; (4) e na confirmação (ou desconfirmação) da expectativa de seus parceiros de transação. Este trabalho contribui para literatura oferecendo uma nova definição para o construto reputação online. Ele também provê um novo método capaz de capturar informações de reputação mais acuradas e confiáveis, que se adotado por empresas de hospedagem online podem proporcionar a seus usuários informações mais relevantes para a escolha de anfitriões. / [en] With the growing number of collaborative consumption websites, there is also a growing need to create online environments, and online reputation systems that enable the creation of trust among unacquainted individuals. The function of online reputation systems is to collect and store information about the past behaviors of users and use it as a predictor of future behavior. In recent years, several studies on this subject have emerged, however, they present definitions of online reputation and descriptions of reputation systems that disregard the reputed individual as an agent in the creation of his/her own reputation. That implies that an individual s online reputation is solely determined by third parties, and that he/she plays no role in that process. This study focused on the generation of reputation parameters in peer-to-peer hospitality websites. These websites allow hosts (service providers) to rent their home, or part of it, such as in the case a single room, to guests (consumers) who are often unknown to them. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the reputation target (the host) could be an influencing agent in the formation of his/her own online reputation. Moreover, it sought to whether this active involvement of the host was likely to generate more accurate information about the his/her reputation, thus affecting the levels of trust and disconfirmations of guests. To develop this study, a new model for the generation of online reputation was proposed, and four experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the reputation target (host): (1) on the quality of its reputation information; (2) on the perception of the host s reputation by third parties; (3) on the levels online trust that third parties (guests) display in relation to the host; and (4) on the confirmation (or disconfirmation) of these third-party expectations. This paper contributes to literature by offering a new approach to the online reputation construct. It also provides a novel method for the construction of more accurate and reliable online reputation parameters, which, if adopted by online hospitality companies could provide their users with subsidies to make better informed choices regarding hosts.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyze the use of social media and use of online reputation management tools by accommodation facilities. Information was obtained from survey among four and five star hotels situated in Prague. Moreover there is an analysis of online reputation management tools which are currently available on the market. After detailed analysis certain conclusions and recommendations are proposed to hotels to help them with effective communication on social media as well as with effective management of online reputation which is nowadays very important for potential guests who search for their accommodation online.

The diploma thesis deals with social networks from the perspective of their impact on search engine optimization (SEO). It focuses on description how the search engine marketing works. Main emphasis is given on the description of key social networks that have an assumption (because of their functionality) to affect of shifting the search results. Some social services also have an impact on indexing new content in search engines. They are also an important part of the strategy for online reputation management. Part of the diploma thesis is devoted to the modern concept of SEO which is defined as findability marketing. This concept consider the social networks as internet websites where users looking for information. That is the reason why this thesis contains a chapter about search capabilities on social networks.

Cette recherche-action menée au sein de la DSIC de La Poste s’intéresse à la réputation des organisations et à son pendant numérique (l’e-réputation) par le prisme des sciences de l’information-communication. Elle propose le développement d’un processus et d’un dispositif de veille stratégique par infomédiation sociale permettant à une organisation d’évaluer, de gérer et in fine de construire son e-réputation.Dans un premier temps, nous présentons un cadre théorique de la réputation des organisations comme objet info-communicationnel. Puis nous abordons l’e-réputation (ou réputation en ligne) des organisations comme une information stratégique constituée de l’ensemble des indicateurs issus de la commensuration des interactions intentionnelles endogènes ou automatisées des communautés virtuelles avec l’organisation : productions d’opinions, notations ou encore agir des publics.Dans un deuxième temps, nous nous questionnons sur les moyens à disposition du groupe La Poste pour construire cette e-réputation. Par « construction », nous entendons la manière de structurer l’environnement informationnel dans lequel les publics de l’organisation évoluent chaque jour sur le web dit social, et plus spécifiquement sur la plate-forme Twitter. Dans ce cadre, nos observations empiriques nous permettent de mettre en exergue, de questionner et d’analyser des utilisateurs du web dont les pratiques informationnelles nous amènent à les qualifier « d’agents-facilitateurs », et dont la caractéristique principale est de participer à la prescription informationnelle et à la médiation documentaire sur le web.Suite à l’observation de certains de ces agents et à la production d’une typologie, nous proposons un modèle et un processus de veille les intégrant. Processus dont les résultats opérationnels au sein de La Poste mettent en avant la nécessaire prise en compte et analyse des pratiques de recommandation des internautes au sein des réseaux socionumériques afin que l’organisation construise son e-réputation de manière proactive. / This research within La Poste's DSIC is focused on corporate reputation and on e-reputation through the prism of information and communication sciences. It proposes the development of a web monitoring and a social search process enabling to assess, manage and build online reputation.At first, we present a theoretical framework for corporate reputation as an info-communicational object. Then we discuss corporate e-reputation such as a strategic information made up of all commensuration indicators constituted by intentional (endogenous or not) interactions with the virtual communities and the firm : productions of opinions, assessment or public behavior.In a second step, we investigate how La Poste group can build its e-reputation. By "build" we mean the way to structure the informational environment where customers evolve each day on social web, and more specifically on the Twitter platform. In this context, our empirical observations allow us to highlight, question and analyze, web users whose informational practices permit us to qualify of "facilitators-agents", and whose main characteristic is to participate in informational prescription and the documentary mediation on the web.After the observation of some of these agents and the production of a typology, we propose a model and a monitoring process to integrate them. Our process's results in La Poste show the need to take into account and analyse recommendation practices on social networks to build corporate e-reputation proactively.