WALL STREET JOURNAL – These days, a great danger lurks just a few clicks away: the online review. By Googling your company's name, anyone can read and track your business's performance – including missteps, poor service or less-than-stellar products.>

Protecting your company's reputation is now a 24-hour vigil. Negative reviews – whether they're merited or not – can turn away potential customers and vendors, and reflect badly on your company's brand. The good news is that small-business owners can be proactive in securing positive reviews by asking satisifed customers to share their experiences. But what if it's already too late?

Here are the three best ways to improve your online reputation.

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EWEEK – Despite the nagging recession, a new study found that 94 percent of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools such as blogs, wikis and microblogging tools.

Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research surveyed 400 companies that have cultivated internal social networks or online communities, finding that only 6 percent plan to decrease their investment in the recession. The communities surveyed ranged from fewer than 100 members to more than one million members.

Ed Moran, director of product innovation for consultancy Deloitte Services LP and one of the report authors, called the results counterintuitive in light of the recession, noting that while IT, marketing and public relations departments are being cut, companies continue to spend on social software for networking and collaboration.

Companies that go against the grain of belt-tightening by spending on social software underscore the importance of these tools, proving that they are not just a hip trend or fad in the enterprise.

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