Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) shut like a book.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (DPZ) was late but eventually delivered.

And CNN focused on the good news.

When the three major brands engaged with their Web-savvy fans and critics in separate incidents last week, their responses demonstrated how corporations are still learning how to control their messages–and reputations–in a fast-twitch online world.

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Updated 4:43 p.m.: @OHHDL is back on Twitter, but it’s now labeled as “the UNOFFICIAL Twitter page of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”

Some members of Twitter, the microblogging service, received a surprise over the weekend when they were informed that the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, had joined the site. “Dalai Lama (OHHDL) is now following your updates on Twitter,” the message read.

They bragged about it to friends, talked about spirituality and cracked jokes (”Can enlightenment be reached 140 char at a time?”). Agence-France Presse even banged out a news story about the Dalai Lama joining Twitter. By Sunday night, he (or is it He?) had attracted 13,000 new followers, an impressive number even for a guy who spiritually represents the whole Tibetan people.

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It must be tough to be a delegate at the Democratic National Convention–you have to know when to scream for Hillary, when to scream for Obama and when not to scream at all. And then you have to learn the art of shaking hands and networking while listening for really important announcements such as someone somewhere offering free pizza. Life may be easier if you have a swanky cellphone. At least, that’s what a bunch of companies are trying to convince you as they push their mobile-related products in Denver.

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Is Google too white? No, we’re not talking about the white home page that’s so bright it motivates some people to change its appearance to save energy. We’re wondering if it is too white, as in Caucasian, because so many white people use Google that it returns results that alienate the rest of the population.

Johnny C. Taylor thinks so. In April he launched RushmoreDrive, a search engine that returns results more targeted at the black community (it’s named after the North Carolina street where its offices are).

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In recent months, some start-up technology companies have died or gone into comas after running out of money, a possible early sign that the resurgence in venture investment may be coming to an end. File123 is counting its days. Edgeio was edged out. TripUp has fallen. BrightSpot went dark. Firebrand flamed out and Ezmo is no more. Industry analysts say this year will bring a big wave of start-up deaths as the credit crisis gripping the financial markets makes investors cautious in other areas.

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With about 300 million page views a day, Wikipedia by some estimates could be worth many hundreds of millions of dollars if it sold advertising space. It doesn’t. Wikipedia’s business plan is, basically, to hold out a tin cup whenever it runs low on funds, which is very often. When it comes to money, “we are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be,” Executive Director Sue Gardner said as she swept up Styrofoam packing nuts in the office in San Francisco, the foundation’s home since it relocated in January from St. Petersburg, Fla. “It’s time for us to grow up a little bit.”

Growing up can be hard to do.

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