Jaiku is, much like Twitter, a micro-blogging platform for social networking. It is not quite as successful and has experienced more success overseas than in the United States, but it is still very entertaining and is a website to watch in the upcoming years. If you’re looking for micro-blogging, there are not many sites with a more interactive, user-friendly, interface.

Jaiku was founded in 2006 by Jyri Engestrom and Petteri Koponen, two natives of Finland. Google later purchased the company, in October of 2007. For online reputation management services, you will not find many more useful websites.

People have long doubted how useful social media or online reputation management services can be. You continually hear about CEOs, small business owners, or celebrities who did not previously realize how potent a tool social media or online reputation management services could be. It is an important way to put a company in front of its prospective customers. There is evidence, though, of people recognizing the importance of social media.

Through more research, I found the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business looked at the relationship between social media and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S. have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24%. According to this survey small business owners now believe social media can help them on the lead generation front, and that is the main motivating factor for engaging in these new customer service channels.

If a small business can utilize social media and online reputation management effectively, then it can create an online buzz about the company and lead to greater profits.