About six months ago, I wrote a piece for this magazine called "Raising the Bar." It was a quick look at some fundamentals for controlling your "name space" online. I talked about what has now become commonplace: creating Wordpress and Blogger pages, personalizing MySpace and Facebook accounts, whipping up Wikipedia profiles and the idea of publishing a press release about the fact you found a good parking spot near Starbucks one morning. Since I wrote that particular piece, the online reputation management sector has exploded, and it's worth revisiting the topic. Before we discuss ways to track your reputation, do …

When historians talk about the power of media, the most often cited example is the role of television in influencing the American public's perception of the Vietnam War. That shared experience led to different reactions, but as the history books tell us, not only did public opinion of the war shift over time, but so did average American citizens' willingness to actively make their opinions known, a shift that ultimately forced a conclusion to the war.

Considering all the attention In Rainbows received just for its pay-what-you-want pricing strategy, not to mention the minor explosion over the subsequent release of the higher quality CD, it could be argued that the thing didn't need any more marketing. Who hadn't heard of it? Who hadn't taken a position on whether Radiohead is a genius marketer, or just a hugely popular band overshadowing the online and new media efforts of smaller groups?

They meet for cocktails and tapas after work, buy all the best electronics and take long snowboarding weekends. Two can live more than twice as lavishly as one when they share the same downtown starter condo. That's why luxury marketers glom on to couples with dual incomes and no kids, also known as DINKs.

The Web isn't just good for filling cheap prescriptions for painkillers and finding erectile dysfunction pills promising "A night she'll never forget." Nope, it's become a primary source for health care and medical information. Legitimate information. Given the nature of consumer needs in the area - treatment, symptom analysis, drug information - the search begins with search. It's the most likely starting point in consumers' quest for health knowledge.

The best salesman knows intuitively to size up his customer's style and character. In an instant, a sales ace understands not only what the customer wants but also where he is coming from and how he makes up his mind. And this is where hi-tech falls far behind the human sales relationship. At most Web sites, one size still fits all, as different kinds of shoppers encounter the same basic process.

Careful readers, data junkies, creepy and mildly anti-social OMMA stalkers (we have many), and Gaetano's mom might have noticed we've made some changes to our Data Mine section of late. Specifically, we've strived to update the Ad Networks list that kicks off our monthly fun-with-stats section. You'll now find a list of 25 pure-play ad networks ranked by unique visitors for the most recent month for which we have complete data. In order to help you (or your analytics department) put this information into context we've helpfully provided the same information from the previous month and the percent change in …

Hire a high-profile Hollywood film director for your TV creative. Cast a Catherine Zeta-Jones look-alike starlet as a spy-superhero-action-star leading lady. Then bombard the Internet and TV with all manner of viral marketing ploys to stir up anticipation for a new TV series called Scarlet. Invite 500 celebrities to screen the series at a red carpet event in Hollywood on April 28. And what do you get? What you get is a tsunami of headlines from a lot of folks disappointed over being misled. Why?

The Internet is giving rise to a new class of on-air talent - the hot nerd. Women like Cali Lewis, Kirsten Sanford, Veronica Belmont, iJustine and Jessica Corbin are becoming Internet news stars not only because they're good-looking, but also because they can dismantle a motherboard and kick your ass at Halo 3, too.

The trend du jour is for big branded media companies like Forbes, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and CBS getting into the vertical network game by leveraging their existing sales staff across scores or hundreds of like-minded smaller sites. MSLO even dubs its group of blogs and enthusiast destinations "Martha's Circle." While some in the industry question the viability of the models, the older media companies may enjoy a natural advantage. A Collective Media survey found that 50 percent of Fortune 1000 marketers say they are more likely to buy from a media branded vertical than from a generic. And on …