In an international survey of social network users, InSites Consulting found that social network users trust brands' social sites for information about the brand itself, second to peer information. Is this astonishing? In the article, I also think about how nonprofits can utilize this information for their brands.

Live blogging a moderated session about online reputation management at SphinnCon Israel. Great ideas for rep managment and recognition using a Q & A answers strategy.

What happens when your cause is "brandjacked?" When you find out that a for-profit, unaffilitated entity is trying to make money off of your donors? That's exactly what happened to Trees for Troops in mid-November. Guest blogger Steve Drake, of Trees for Troops, tells how Trees for Troops fought back, lessons learned and the ROI of social media.

What are the essential online listening tools you need? In this post, I discuss the six essential FREE tools that also offer email alert features. However, the other secret is listening through RSS feeds. Find out how and why you want to each of these listening tools.

You have to commit to social media maintenance. Social media profiles are your organization's online homes, and you can't close up shop for a while, take long vacations, or fail to maintain them. This post examines the necessity of social media maintenance, and the repercussions of not maintaining your online homes.

Reputation management is not just a tool for defensive online listening, but to alert us when good things are said about our company online. Two days ago, I found out that I won an industry award solely because my company was mentioned and hyperlinked from another site. How did I find out? A Google Alert I had set up notified me. In this post, I discuss the importance of effective listening posts, using my award as an example of "the flip side of reputation management."

This week, two employees blindsided Domino's Pizza with a self-made, so-called prank video. It went viral. the shocking news? Domino's wasn't even listening. Every organization and nonprofit should learn from Domino's Pizza.

Charity: water has sent out an interactive thank-you to all its Twestival donors. In doing so, it has used all the best lessons from a recent Community Philanthropy 2.0 study and applied it to its own donor base. Donors want to be involved, learn about the impact of their donations and hear about success stores. Charity: water has done all that and more...convinced me to give again.

Why is proactive reputation management necessary for your organization? I list four compelling reasons for creating a reputation management strategy and offer links to resources for proactively adjusting or creating an online reputation.

When your company is faced with a crisis, you should have the appropriate social media tools in place to listen, engage with stakeholders and broadcast messages. In this post, I consider the reputation problems recently faced by Network Solutions and Motrin, the strategies used to address them, and lessons we can learn from them.