In the world we live in today, there are various forms of communication platforms that are used to share information. For instance, Blogs and Wikis are two of the many platforms used to share information. Blogs are websites that are updated ever so frequently with information of wide ranging topics, and so are Wikis. But make no mistake these platforms are also different. The things that separates blogs from wikis, are the ways in which this information is presented and controlled and the features of the websites. Blogs are more personal logs of information, doesn’t have to be factual information, it is more like opinion based. For example, Wal-Mart had an unfiltered blog where employees and customers criticized the various products they offer through their suppliers. One of the employees posted, “Is it really all that and a bag of chips?” he wrote on his blog. “My life has not changed dramatically — well, for that matter, it hasn’t changed at all.” Blogs also enable users to interact with each other through comments, so they could engage in conversations. This function could allow companies to use blogs to interact with their target market, and be able to collab and create a product or service of value. This could save businesses a lot of money on research, when they could simple start interacting with their consumers. However, Wikis are factual information driven. Wiki doesn’t give the luxury of commenting, so interaction would be non-existent, perhaps it’s mostly factual information and one cannot argue against a fact. Business wouldn’t be able to use wiki to engage with their consumers like how they can with a blog. But, what they can do is present information in a form of a background about their organization. For instance, “Tony Pagliarulo, VP of application development with information technology vendor EMC, and his team were building a knowledge management system three years ago and needed a way to organize in one place all of the schedules, code and other details of the project. He chose a wiki—a software application that allows groups of users to create, edit and comment on online documents—so that each team member could contribute and access up-to-date information on the project.”For right now, wiki is very limited, but maybe it will develop a new feature that will prove very beneficial, such as a way to interact with the contributors.
Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write a Blunt and Unfiltered Blog, NY Times, march 3, 2008, p. C1, at:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html
Wiki While You Work; The technology popularized by Wikipedia can help companies gather and manage their own collective knowledge. Here's how to get started by Margaret Locher. CIO, May 1, 2008. Vol. 21, Iss. 14. Available at: http://www.cio.com/article/336818/More_on_How_to_Build_Your_Own_Wikipedia
