Last week Google officially launched Knol. The story behind Knol is explained here:

"Knol is a free service from Google that allows you to communicate, collaborate, and share your knowledge with the world. We believe that Knol increases the availability of information, encourages freedom of expression, and makes possible new connections between authors and readers."

I've written some Knols in the past few days and found a strong online reputation benefit inherent in this service. Think about how social networks have changed how we do business online. Social media and social networks have had an undeniable impact on online business. These social networks have changed the way almost everyone communicates online, and this can have a serious bottom line impact on your business. It's not overly pessimistic to say that negative online reputation spread through social media networks can destroy your business. The ownership of social communications channels and the entire balance of power have shifted. Suddenly, your company is not in complete control of your online message anymore. Are you doomed to just sit on the sidelines and let your message spin out of control? No. There's compelling business value you can find in Google's Knol. I'm definitely not saying that there are no problems with Knol in its current state - but that's a blog post for another time. Today I'll talk about just 1 simple way to use Knol to help improve your online reputation. Google says that the main principle behind their new service is "authorship". Knol authors put their name on content and can be verified through Google. And a business can create articles to promote their company's products or services. Are you starting to see how your business can benefit from using Knol? As the author of content about your products or services, you have more authority than a random irate customer who chooses to bring down your company by posting gripes on various popular social media networks. Theoretically, Google ranks websites partly based on their authority. So Knol gives you an opportunity to take back some control of your online brand by allowing you to judiciously create Knol articles that carry more authority than anonymous consumer generated content. It's certainly not a fool-proof method of cleaning up your online reputation, but even at this early stage, it looks like an important part of your online arsenal.