Let's talk.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has some advice for companies worried about their online reputation, "make stuff that doesn't suck". Seems blindingly obvious and sounds easy enough but few companies are talked about consistently when discussing brand integrity and product worthiness and making stuff that doesn't suck. If you take all the things you use in your daily life and list the ones that work all the time, to your level of satisfaction, it's likely a small list.

Wales' latest venture, Wikia is all about Wikipedia-without-limits from a social perspective using polls, lists and achievement badges and receives roughly 36 million monthly visitors who like to talk. Visitors that talk about a lot of things that suck because people enjoy digging at products that really should be better before they are offered up for use.

So what are companies to do if they get caught in this or any other online forum, "make stuff that doesn't suck". Like travel sites such as Trip Advisor, the power has been ceded to the public and unlike sites such as Facebook where products can have control with their own pages, Wikia respondents have the final say.

Once again the blindingly obvious answer has Wales at the centre of making sure that his new product works and that any talk remains positive. He cites Steve Jobs having the same mindset when he told Nike CEO Mark Parker to "get rid of the crappy stuff." It's often tempting for companies to make something for everyone but the dilution of creativity and product brilliance is easily spotted and talked about.

The number of products that Apple makes can fit on a small table, smaller all the time really but their mantra of concentrating on their core and saying no to even good ideas has shown how a company can make a product that doesn't suck in any way. The pages devoted to Apple products and touted by their zealous evangelists far outweigh the negative side of online debates.

The focus on making quality products give companies an advantage in that they don't need to spend time and money on brand management. Their online fans will do that for them. If companies can continue to supply their fans with great products then fans will take care of brand management.

Has anyone talked about your product lately?