Reputation Management Online

Until 3 weeks ago, none of us had heard of Horizon Realty in Chicago, and if they had ignored Amanda Bonnent's pesky comments on Twitter it would have stayed that way. Lets face it: when she tweeted her complaints about her apartment she only had 30 followers, many of whom would already have known.

But... Horizon made a critical mistake. They responded to her criticism rather than ignoring it and within days they were being widely reviled across the Internet community.

Never confront critics directly online! You can address their criticisms directly offline and then ask them to amend their criticisms and comments. You can address them indirectly offline as well.

What you cannot do is give the impression that you are silencing them or at least trying to.