BP's current oil spill to end all oil spills may be revolutionizing online reputation management faster than any event since Obama's 2008 campaign. Is the oil giant doing a good job? It's a pretty loaded question. On one level, the severity and high level of fallout from this spill means BP is fighting a battle it can not win. On another level, they have probably slowed some fallout, and we're scarily still vary much in Act I of BP's publicity nightmare. In other words, it's still way too early to tell.

One thing is for sure, BP is certainly in no man's land in terms of protecting its reputation online. While the company could have lobbied Twitter to get the unofficial user, #BPCares, removed, they deliberately chose otherwise. BP's reputation will fare better if people read sarcastic comments, like "This is a warning to all animals that #BP oil is not certified for swimming in or on #bpcares," over the real deal. Sure enough, the light-winded humor of these tweets has helped #BPCares go viral and attract attention that would normally be focused on more cutting criticism.

Today Search Engine Watch answered a question that has been running through my mind for weeks. How much is BP spending on Google search ads? Not enough. Based off various resources, it appears that BP is spending around $1 million a month on Google search ads. While this seems significant, I'm actually wildly disappointed. BP has been dumping loads of resources into online marketing and public relations, and Google is certainly getting its fair share of BP's allocated online resources, but this monthly million dollars is seemingly insignificant given that BP is expected to spend $50 million on TV spots. Obviously people spend time offline, but BP's online ad spend is a fraction of what it should be. It's plain and simple. People spend more time online than they do watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading print publications. Moreover, online advertising can easily be tied to outcomes for unparalleled transparency and a high return on investment.

Don't get me wrong, the fact that the oil giant snubbed Ogilvy & Mather and chose a political consultancy, Purple Strategies, instead reveals that BP is very open to non-traditional crisis communications techniques. The problem is that like its recovery efforts in the Gulf, BP has been dealt an unprecedented hand, and it is not going far enough to protect its reputation online.