Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog, has an online reputation management problem.

He emerged in Western Pennsylvania on Tuesday to see his shadow, which traditionally means winter will last another six weeks.

12,000+ people from as far as Chile and the Netherlands, came to watch the pseudo-German tradition unfold. It has mutated from the original holiday of “Candelmas” and has become somewhat of a pop-culture tradition more than anything.

People stand around in near freezing, and sometimes below freezing, temperatures to watch a Marmot look for a shadow.  This is all with the understanding that a superstition will forecast the weather for the next month and a half, approximately.

Far from a factual undertaking, the whole circus is now geared towards entertainment.

You can see “Phil” at his website;   www.punxsutawneyphil.com .  The site header is carefully worded;

“Greetings from Punxsutawney! A tribute site to the world’s most famous weather-forecasting groundhog”.

However, a direct search for the Marmot today, puts his site at 3rd place, behind “news” and then “groundhog.org”. This begs the question, why wouldn’t Phil want his traffic pointing to his site and then monetize it heavily?

Maybe because Marmot’s have no real use for money, and less use for people and attention?

Reference PETA and their recommendation, not surprisingly to, “stop waking Phil up because taking pictures of him is cruel,and he should be replaced with a robot.”

Personally, I think perhaps we might all be better served if all protestors would be replaced with robots; They could circle and hold signs and broadcast propaganda from speakers, but then who would be able to tell the difference, honestly?

Practicality aside, let’s pretend that Phil is the Capitalist that we all would be in his shoes (if he wore any).

Further internet searches related to Punxsutawney Phil today topped out at 3rd most searched items:

punxsutawney phil, groundhog day, punxsutawney phil 2010, punxsutawney phil video, will punxsutawney phil see his shadow, national hurricane center, empire state building, punxsutawney phil 1986, and punxsutawney phil pictures being the most relevant searches.

For example, when you enter “punxsutawney phil” on a Google search, you get a sponsored link for “eBay”; Sponsored Links Punxsutawney Phil -Beanie Babies & Other Plush Dolls. Bid on Punxsutawney Phil.
For the search “groundhog day” you will get a set of sponsored links for “www.alliedcreditsolutions.com” and

“www.PartyCheap.com“.

Who knew that there would be parties and credit solutions associated with burrowing rodents? Usually those kind of Marmot parties in the Northwest involve using ”credit solutions” to purchase a rifle and/or some ammo, and then the “party” portion involves some beer and “downsizing” the Marmot population from your tailgate, but I digress.

If you would like to follow Phil on some of the social media outlets, there are a number of sites he is purported to use:

On facebook this is supposedly the one to use:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Punxsutawney-Phil/103061141793

Then there are a number of videos to watch, and youtube is no exception.

Then on Twitter, it starts to get confusing since there are two: GroundhogPhil and PunxsutawnePhil.

Amazingly, the little guy while unable to speak human dialects, is able to text you in English by  text “Groundhog” to 247365.

They will get a text message with the prediction on Feb. 2 (today).

The revenue and traffic can’t all be benefiting the marmot, so what is a “groundhog” to do?

First, the Marmot needs to take stock of what he owns and is entitled to protect.

Has he done a sufficient job of protecting and registering his intellectual property?

How much of what is irritating him is considered “fair use”?

Next, he needs a good strategy to both protect what is acquirable, enforceable, and still available.

Last, he needs a team or solution that involves expertise and experience with online legal and enforcement issues.

If you find your self in a similar situation as our furry friend, Metamend has online reputation management solutions to prevent you from having your own groundhog day with regard to your online identity.