Chapter 12 discussed online reputation management (ORM). For this exercise, you need to select a branded product or company to discuss/analyze. Your selection could be a product you use (e.g., your Samsung Galaxy s8, or Levis jeans) or it could be a company you like (or hate) such as a restaurant chain (e.g., McDonald’s), clothing store (e.g., Limited) or service provider (e.g., Verizon or Time Warner).

To receive credit for this exercise, REPLY to THIS message and answer the following questions:

1. The text defined ORM as, “The practice of promoting a positive brand image online by increasing the visibility of positive information and managing negative information.” In your opinion is it right (or wrong) for a business to try to “hide” negative information online? Explain your answer.
2. Suppose you worked for the product/brand/company you selected for this exercise. Using information in Chapter 12, explain how you would go monitoring its online reputation. Be specific in your answer (for example, you might mention the keywords you’d monitor using Google Alerts and/or provide the addresses of specific blogs or other sites you would monitor regularly).
3. Using resources identified in Chapter 12 (or other methods), identify something negative (or potentially negative) about your selected product/brand/company. Using the three ts of OEM (timeliness, transparency and training), discuss how you would respond to the negative information. Did the brand/company respond appropriately? Why or why not?