With the end of the year nearing, it is just sinking in to me that we are also closing a decade.
The “00″ years are finally done and to many people, it was the worst decade in our lifetime. However good or bad, this decade generated a need for an industry that many of us work in: Reputation Management.

Lets take a look back at how we got here:

At the end of the last decade, or 1999, we were all coming into 2000 glued to our computers, but not on our favorite social media outlet, but rather the power outlet; With Y2K creating a “fear generated” cottage industry, many of us were wondering how valid these fears really were. The possibility of your computer causing your downfall really set the stage for the ORM business and smart businesses prepared for the worst.

Then, when nothing of substance happened, there were many garage sales selling generators and gas cans that summer. Many houses ate rice with every meal for a while to put a dent in those 100lb bags. The Y2K business as a whole was closed that night. However, there are other issues that you may or may not have forgotten which developed the reputation management industry into the entity as we know it today.

First up and most importantly in my opinion, is My Space. Myspace was officially introduced to the Internet in 1999, and later changed from a file storage site to a social media site. Even today Myspace continues to give Facebook able competition and enjoys a significant new user count and high user retention levels for this industry. However, back in 1999, it was nothing like the giant it is today.

But even entertainment can change the way people view the internet. The most influential example in my opinion is The Matrix. This film was released in 1999 and arguably made the internet popular, pushed online user levels skyward and made “high-tech” cool again. The Columbine tragedy, cell phone design and a number of other historical events have been associated with this movie and based upon this fact I feel its place in ORM history is obvious. Even Agent Smith’s ubiquitous “ear piece” could arguably be held responsible for the Bluetooth designs we use today.

Speaking of that, Bluetooth technology first made the scene in 1999 and paved the way for the modern internet capable phone, which is in large part why social media is so prevalent; mainly due to ease of access in the last part of this decade.

Coincidentally, there is an event; a purchase, that opens the decade then a sale that closes the decade. Ford purchases Volvo in 1999 and then on Christmas eve this 2009 year, Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. has nearly finalized their purchase of Volvo from Ford.

Ford is not alone, given the fact that similarly in 1999 the DOW closes above 11,000 and then on March 9, 2009, the Dow reached a closing low at 6,547.05. Many other business opened and closed the decade at either end of the spectrum as well.

While the markets settled and bubbles burst, 2000 was a less impactful year for the ORM industry; short of the disasterous operating system called “Millenium” Microsoft’s reputation was again tested. Win2K however, was a very stable operating system and a reputation win for Microsoft.

Then, after the fairly uneventful 2000, the next year, in 2001, Dmitry Sklyarov is arrested under the mostly untested DMCA law and then released soon after. We all know where DMCA leads after that; it becomes the basis on which most Cease and Desist letters in this industry would be developed, giving squatters everywhere a headache.

Next, in 2002, East Timor regains its independence and makes a headache for everyone who registered a .tp domain name. A civil war results in this domain becoming the .tl extension. The low rent jokes about the .tp extension, lose their relevance and the registry never really changes again after the shakeup. This one event lets domain professionals everywhere know that offline can affect online and vice-versa.

In an unrelated event, 9 of 13 DNS root servers are disabled in the worst to date (2002) DDoS attack. This woke up IT professionals everywhere and highlighted the need for serious, strategic online monitoring. This marked a change in culture where we realized that y2k was not the only serious widespread threat to online security.

Then on the bright side, Friendster.com emerged in 2003, connecting members 18 and over with almost anyone for free. But it was the freshly revamped Myspace.com in 2003, that made social networking the industry we recognize today.

Facebook.com then made the scene in 2004 as a site focused on giving status updates with regard to everyday college life. It was first restricted to college students only. The top of the heap social media site was finally offered to the public as a whole in 2006, and given the search engine relevance, was instrumental in changing our industry.

Amazingly, and not to be outdone by East Timor, in 2005 The European Union TLD .eu is launched, and replaces .eu.int. Initially this is an “only for business” domain but by the 7th of April in 2006, EU citizens could also register .eu domains. However with a user unfriendly interface for registrars, taking its cues from .be Belgium, clients everywhere failed to understand why supposedly simple modifications were so difficult and time consuming.

Other than the .eu public release, 2006 did not have much impactful on this industry in my opinion other than the aforementioned release of Facebook to the public.

But in 2007 a little known online threat would jump start the need for ORM; Domain tasting. In 2007 domain tasting was at its zenith and ran virtually unchecked.

This scam tactic was not discovered until it was too late and legal departments and IT professionals everywhere scrambled to defend against the attacks that were seemingly “unenforceable”. This type of attack expolited the five-day “grace period” (the Add Grace Period or AGP) at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated second-level domain to test the marketability of the domain.

During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain name registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain’s website. Widespread TM infringement was seen and enforcement under ICANN at that time was non-existent due to the 5 day timeframe.

This one event solidified the need for a dedicated reputation management strategy and if you have the foresight, a dedicated enforcement team. This made it abundantly clear that ORM was here to stay.

Then, in 2008, Barack Obama was elected and used an effective social media campaign to get the word out. This forever changed the way we craft our social media builds, and no matter your politics, it is hard to argue with the success of his social media build. It was effective on a never before seen scale.

Along the lines of this never before seen scale was in 2009, The Death of Michael Jackson, which unknowingly taxed online resources and bandwidth to previously unseen levels. This one event stressed the importance of a strategic and controlled online presence and cemented the need for a social media strategy. This was so impactful that Google actually initially thought the traffic increase was an attack.

This brings us to the last day or so of the decade and while tragedy and loss scarred the last ten years, we have all become stronger and in the ORM industry we have developed skillsets, tactics, terminology and tools that never before existed or were even thought of. We have protected and defended our clients, and hopefully been an example of hope and something positive in a somewhat darker decade online and offline. I like to think that we in this field have made a difference and will continue to do so.

Love it or hate it, many of us owe our livings to the past decade. Change is inevitable and while no one can know for sure what is coming next, some of us know how to prepare and roll with the changes. If you have questions or concerns with your online reputation, or want to prepare for the 2010’s, Metamend can help, with our dedicated online reputation management team.