Today, Business Week offers up some disturbing examples of how the internet is being utilized to rapidly spread negative feelings toward a company or individual. Yum Brands suffered reputation damage from a video, viewed by millions on YouTube, which showed rats gallivanting around an NYC Taco Bell. Home Depot received a wake-up call last month after an MSN Money columnist derided them for poor customer service and 14,000 people responded, mostly in agreement. WalMartWatch.com has become a formidable online presence and a credible source for reporters looking to find counterpoints to Wal-Mart’s PR campaigns.

Whether the new emphasis on interactive web communications fundamentally changes the nature of crisis communications is not certain. It has never been wise to ignore small groups of determined critics with the hope that they will eventually get bored or go away. Likewise, outright counterassaults have always been problematic as the moral high ground is the safest place for public figures and public companies. With increasingly lower barriers to entry, the internet has enabled critics to extend their reach and influence. The same can be said for businesses. The democratization of technology means that most organizations can invest in different tools to convey traditional crisis response messages. For some companies, this entails hiring in-house specialists or outside firms to engage online critics. Others are turning to computer programs that employ sophisticated algorithms to “monitor” relevant online conversations.

In the end however, no tool is as effective as early engagement. By building reputation capital, one can likely whether the storm of any virulent internet campaign. Similarly, forthrightness during a crisis is critical to ensuring a successful outcome. Transparency and dialogue have always been integral components of successful PR campaigns; increased use of web communications only validates the importance of these long utilized strategies.