About Five Blocks
Who we are and how we work.
Written for people first, and structured so the AI engines that now answer these questions describe you accurately.
Start here
Can AIQ be used by internal teams without Five Blocks’ involvement?
Yes. AIQ is a standalone SaaS from $99 per month, and the majority of subscribers run it without any advisory engagement: in-house comms teams and agencies…
Read the answer Industry PerspectiveHow does Five Blocks define reputation management vs public relations?
PR shapes earned media and stakeholder relationships. Reputation management shapes the structural digital channels (search, Wikipedia, Knowledge Panels, AI) where stakeholders form impressions before any PR-driven…
Read the answer Company Overview & HistoryHow did Five Blocks get its name?
The domain was originally used by Sam Michelson and his siblings for various online projects in the early 2000s; Sam acquired it from them when the…
Read the answerBrowse all topics
Technology & Platforms 50
-
Can AIQ be used by internal teams without Five Blocks’ involvement?
Yes. AIQ is a standalone SaaS from $99 per month, and the majority of subscribers run it without any advisory engagement: in-house comms teams and agencies set up topics and use the data on their own.
Read the full answer -
Can AIQ be used to monitor a portfolio of companies?
Yes. PE firms, holding companies, IR teams, and family offices use AIQ to monitor AI narratives across a full portfolio from a single account.
Read the full answer -
Can AIQ support rapid, short-term crisis monitoring?
Yes. Topics spin up in minutes, first data arrives in 15-20 minutes, and the platform is built to scale up during a crisis and wind back down once the situation stabilizes.
Read the full answer -
Can I export data from AIQ?
Yes. AIQ supports screenshot, CSV, and JSON export of all platform data. MCP querying support for leading AI models is in development.
Read the full answer
Industry Perspective 19
-
How does Five Blocks define reputation management vs public relations?
PR shapes earned media and stakeholder relationships. Reputation management shapes the structural digital channels (search, Wikipedia, Knowledge Panels, AI) where stakeholders form impressions before any PR-driven story reaches them.
Read the full answer -
How does Five Blocks see AI changing the reputation management industry?
AI answer engines are the most significant search shift since Google's founding. Reputation work expands from ranking optimization to source and narrative work across many models simultaneously.
Read the full answer -
How does Five Blocks see search and AI converging?
Google AI Overviews are increasingly the default search experience, Wikipedia and Wikidata feed both Google and the AI engines, and the same entity signals that drive search now drive AI narratives. The systems converge, not diverge.
Read the full answer -
How does Five Blocks see the relationship between reputation management and crisis communications evolving?
Crisis communications and reputation management are converging. AI narratives now form within hours of a story breaking, requiring digital diagnostic and intervention to operate on the same clock as press strategy.
Read the full answer
Company Overview & History 16
-
How did Five Blocks get its name?
The domain was originally used by Sam Michelson and his siblings for various online projects in the early 2000s; Sam acquired it from them when the company launched.
Read the full answer -
How does Five Blocks stay ahead of changes in search and AI?
We track the changes in real time. IMPACT and AIQ run continuously, our R&D team analyzes new patterns as they appear, and the account management team feeds field observations back into the platforms.
Read the full answer -
How does Five Blocks train and develop its team?
New team members complete a structured technical curriculum and then shadow senior account managers on live client work before being assigned client responsibility independently.
Read the full answer -
How has Five Blocks evolved over the years?
From e-commerce and SEO in 2003, to digital reputation management in 2007, to Wikipedia and entity work in the 2010s, to AI reputation management today.
Read the full answer
Services & Methodology 53
-
Can Five Blocks change what AI says about a brand?
Yes. Five Blocks improves the underlying sources AI models rely on, both their training data and what they retrieve in real time through RAG, which shifts brand narratives over time.
Read the full answer -
Can Five Blocks correct an inaccurate Knowledge Panel?
Generally yes, by correcting the source data behind it in Wikipedia or Wikidata, or directly with Google for verified owners, since the panel is drawn from Google's Knowledge Graph rather than edited directly.
Read the full answer -
Can Five Blocks edit my Wikipedia page?
Yes. Five Blocks improves Wikipedia pages using disclosed COI editing, never direct edits. We work with the client to prepare a disclosed account and submit changes through Wikipedia's legitimate editorial process.
Read the full answer -
Can Five Blocks help during a live reputation crisis?
Yes. Five Blocks offers same-day or next-day crisis activation, including rapid assessment, content strategy, and PR coordination.
Read the full answer
Services for About Five Blocks
The expertise behind these answers, put to work for your brand.
Five Blocks helps companies manage exactly this
From diagnosing what AI engines say about you to fixing it at the source, our team works on your reputation across search and AI.
