Reputation
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Reputation is the general opinion of the public towards a person, a group of people, or an organization. It is an important factor in many fields, such as business, online communities or social status. Template:Wiktionary
Many businesses have public relations departments dedicated to managing their reputation. Incidents which damage a company's reputation for honesty or safety may cause serious damage to finances. For example, in 1999 Coca Cola lost $60 million (by its own estimate) after schoolchildren reported suffering from symptoms like headaches, nausea and shivering after drinking its products. [1] (http://www.zurich.com/main/productsandsolutions/industryinsight/2004/june2004/industryinsight20040603_003.htm)
Reputation is a factor in any online community where trust is important. Examples include Ebay, an auction service which uses a system of customer feedback to publicly rate each member's reputation. One study found that a good reputation added 7.6% to the price received [2] (http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2002/12/28/the_value_of_eb.html).