In this WebProNews video from the SES on capitalising on social media, Converseon CEO talks about how search engines give social media significant weight, which means that negative feedback in blogs and other social media about your company or product could make up 60% of the top ten search results.

Monitoring the social media for brand reputation can help you “find the ripple on the water before it becomes a tidal wave.” The number of journalists reading blogs is phenomena, says the interviewl. I know this from personal experience because I’ve been interviewed twice by journalists who found me through my blogs.

The panel also discusses the ethics of incentivized word of mouth marketing and how flogs (fake blogs) are not the way to go for companies looking to include social media in their public relations strategy.