Blog V Wiki

In the age of new media, wiki’s and blogs have become the new standard of information sharing amongst individuals within an organization or amongst a much larger community. They both offer similar utility on the basis of sharing information, but one may be preferred over the other or more appropriate rather.

Let’s explore some of the reasons why one would lean toward a blog over a wiki, or vice versa.

Wiki’s are basically webpages that allow multiple users to create and modify content in many ways. It can be used strictly as a collaboration tool or it can be used as a non-static page of information pertaining to a person, place, or thing, that may require updates and changes. Sounds like it can be a perfect tool to build a knowledge base for a business. But can the integrity of a wiki page uphold when anyone who visits the page can make changes as they see fit? Apparently, someone at the LA Times thought it would be a good idea to make a wiki about a global issue available to the public, specifically the war with Iraq and the USA. New York Times did a follow up on the 'wikitorial' page which became a subject of spam and profanity. This experiment proves that extra precautions must be taken when publishing a page that is open to the public and subject to opinion. Since then, Wikipedia has done a better job at maintaining its informative and factual integrity. John D. Sutter from CNN writes that since Wikipedia has launched, they have made several improvements by learning from these mistakes. They now assign expertise editors to specific areas for moderation and control, even freezing some pages like senators and celebrities. Wikipedia’s improvements show that they are more centered on sharing knowledge and information rather than opinions.

There is always room for opinions on the web and those who seek such may find themselves reading or editing a blog just as I am doing now. Unlike wiki pages, blogs are usually run by a single author who controls all of the content at all times. The author makes the post, and the readers can comment. To determine if blogs are more effective than wiki’s for collaboration is a subjective question. Depending on the content you choose to write about, you may invite others in on the topic where they can share their thoughts and ideas with you. For instance, in this blog I can post about methods of maximizing growth for an e-commerce page, some may read what I have written and drop a line to let me know what they think about the subject. Although blogs can feature facts and concrete information, blogs are more centered toward opinion sharing.