This executive briefing on how organizations can best leverage the Wikipedia social media platform was prepared by Jason Soto while an MBA student in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana.
Overview
In 2007, Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia in the world, surpassing the great 1408 Yongle Encyclopedia, breaking a six hundred year record with over two million articles. At its peak in 2006, Wikipedia contributors were uploading an average of 1800 new articles every day (Wikipedia, n.d.). Yet since its creation, Wikipedia has been plagued with a bad reputation of questionable credibility due to its wiki structure. But in actuality, it is quite the opposite. Multiple studies have shown that Wikipedia is just as accurate as the well know Encyclopedia Britannica at ninety five percent accurate. Yet teachers and scholars refuse acknowledge it as a credible source (Wolchover, 2011). Despite its reputation, the world has embraced Wikipedia by making it the seventh highest most visited website on the internet in 2014 (“Competitive Intelligence,” 2015).
The Platform in Brief
Wikipedia is a free online, open content, encyclopedia where anyone can edit the site’s articles to add or remove information on a voluntary basis, except in certain situations. It is the largest encyclopedia ever assembled, with over 4.7 million articles, by 24,038,012 contributing users, The name "Wikipedia" is a melding of the Hawaiian word “wiki”, a technology for creating collaborative websites, derived from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick" and the term encyclopedia (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Founded in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in St. Petersburg, Fl.; as a side project of Nupedia, Wikipedia.com was founded to help in the development in articles for Nupedia. Unlike Nupedia, which only scholars could post or edit articles, discussions and reviews. Wikipedia allowed any user and visitor to create and edit any article, regardless of their education, without revealing their identity. Wikipedia quickly began to grow and by the end of 2001, contributors had uploaded more than twenty thousand articles to Wikipedia. By 2003 Wikipedia’s expansive growth was putting financial burdens on the project. Refusing to allow advertisements on the site, Wikipedia needed to find a way to fund this project. This is when Wikipedia.com changed their domain name to Wikipedia.org and formed the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization to fund Wikipedia through financial contributions from donors and users (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Now located out of San Francisco, Ca, Wikipedia is led by executive director Van-Bart de Vreede, employing two hundred and thirty employees. Wikipedia took in over forty eight million dollars in contributions last year, with twenty two million dollars in cash assets (“Wikimedia, n.d.). Wikipedia is now available for translation in two hundred eighty five different languages around the world. Twenty five percent of users are from the United States and the highest percentage and three times that of India in second place at just eight percent .Users of Wikipedia were also more educated than the average internet user, many of which holding graduate level degrees (“Competitive Intelligence,” 2015). Wikipedia operates and follows five fundamental pillars of principals: Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia, written from a neutral point of view, is free for anyone to use or edit, editors should treat each other with respect, and Wikipedia has no firm rules (Wikipedia, n.d.).
The Platform in Operation
When we think of social media platforms, Wikipedia is usually not on that list. Most people use Wikipedia as a resource for finding information, but in fact it is a social media site. Every article on Wikipedia was created by a user and posted on Wikipedia. Anyone can create or edit an article entry, comment or edit on anything. Many celebrities and business organizations have created articles on themselves, providing easily accessed information about themselves to the general public (Giles, 2005). Most large organizations are listed on Wikipedia and is a great way to educate the public about your company (“Should You”, 2015).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
Pros
Wikipedia is a great place to go to get general and relatively detailed knowledge about anything without going to 100 websites. Everything is cited for those who are willing to look for the information (Giles, 2005). And believe it or not, multiple studies have shown that Wikipedia is just as accurate as the great Encyclopedia Britannica, as stated by Nature magazine and many others (Wolchover, 2011). Many scholars admit they use Wikipedia themselves, even though they do not accept it as a credible source (West, 2008). It also serves the business owner as to provide validity to your brand name other your website. Although it will not sell more products for you, it gives your brand more Credibility and depth on the internet.
Ever since its creation, credibility issues have plagued Wikipedia, even though they clearly state that the information cannot be trusted, nor is it a true encyclopedia (West, 2008). But that is to be expected from an open-user-edit “encyclopedia”. But even scholars admit that they even use Wikipedia, but refuse to accept it as a source for reference (West, 2008). Once a company has created a page for themselves thy need to periodically check the page to ensure no one has vandalized the page or accidently put up false information. Stephen Colbert was notorious for wreaking havoc on Wikipedia through his audience on multiple occasions. Wikipedia had to block editing on many pages because of this (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Analysis
Wikipedia has become a household word in most homes today. If used correctly it can be a valuable tool, but can easily make you sound like an idiot (“Reliability of Wikipedia”, n.d.). Despite its “wiki” base structure, it is very accurate, not to mention convenient (Wolchover2011). But with its free edit policy, it can never truly be trusted.
As long as Wikipedia continues to follow its free-edit philosophy, it will never be able to shed the bad name it has earned. I never use Wikipedia other than getting a quick overview on a subject. It serves the business owner the most in my opinion. Having a website, other than your own, that can verify all of your information gives great depth to the credibility of an online company. The internet is full of scams and fraudulent websites, which makes it hard decipher between the legitimate companies and scams. If users learn to utilize Wikipedia for its true purpose, it’s one of the most valuable resources on the internet.
References
Competitive Intelligence. (2015, February 6). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/wikipedia.org
Giles, J. (2005, December 1). Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005Natur.438
Reliability of Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
Should You or Your Business Be on Wikipedia? The Pros and Cons. (2009, May 15). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.thewritersforhire.com/copywriting/should-you-or-your-business-be-on-wikipedia-the-pros-and-cons/
West, N. (2008, September 3). The Pros and Cons of Wikipedia. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://jg-tc.com/lifestyles/the-pros-and-cons-of-wikipedia/article_132b226d-8b6e-5f63-a928-cc8992a318ba.html
Wikimedia Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation
Wolchover, B. (2011, January 24). How Accurate Is Wikipedia? Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/32950-how-accurate-is-wikipedia.html Reliability of Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
In 2007, Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia in the world, surpassing the great 1408 Yongle Encyclopedia, breaking a six hundred year record with over two million articles. At its peak in 2006, Wikipedia contributors were uploading an average of 1800 new articles every day (Wikipedia, n.d.). Yet since its creation, Wikipedia has been plagued with a bad reputation of questionable credibility due to its wiki structure. But in actuality, it is quite the opposite. Multiple studies have shown that Wikipedia is just as accurate as the well know Encyclopedia Britannica at ninety five percent accurate. Yet teachers and scholars refuse acknowledge it as a credible source (Wolchover, 2011). Despite its reputation, the world has embraced Wikipedia by making it the seventh highest most visited website on the internet in 2014 (“Competitive Intelligence,” 2015).
The Platform in Brief
Wikipedia is a free online, open content, encyclopedia where anyone can edit the site’s articles to add or remove information on a voluntary basis, except in certain situations. It is the largest encyclopedia ever assembled, with over 4.7 million articles, by 24,038,012 contributing users, The name "Wikipedia" is a melding of the Hawaiian word “wiki”, a technology for creating collaborative websites, derived from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick" and the term encyclopedia (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Founded in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in St. Petersburg, Fl.; as a side project of Nupedia, Wikipedia.com was founded to help in the development in articles for Nupedia. Unlike Nupedia, which only scholars could post or edit articles, discussions and reviews. Wikipedia allowed any user and visitor to create and edit any article, regardless of their education, without revealing their identity. Wikipedia quickly began to grow and by the end of 2001, contributors had uploaded more than twenty thousand articles to Wikipedia. By 2003 Wikipedia’s expansive growth was putting financial burdens on the project. Refusing to allow advertisements on the site, Wikipedia needed to find a way to fund this project. This is when Wikipedia.com changed their domain name to Wikipedia.org and formed the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization to fund Wikipedia through financial contributions from donors and users (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Now located out of San Francisco, Ca, Wikipedia is led by executive director Van-Bart de Vreede, employing two hundred and thirty employees. Wikipedia took in over forty eight million dollars in contributions last year, with twenty two million dollars in cash assets (“Wikimedia, n.d.). Wikipedia is now available for translation in two hundred eighty five different languages around the world. Twenty five percent of users are from the United States and the highest percentage and three times that of India in second place at just eight percent .Users of Wikipedia were also more educated than the average internet user, many of which holding graduate level degrees (“Competitive Intelligence,” 2015). Wikipedia operates and follows five fundamental pillars of principals: Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia, written from a neutral point of view, is free for anyone to use or edit, editors should treat each other with respect, and Wikipedia has no firm rules (Wikipedia, n.d.).
The Platform in Operation
When we think of social media platforms, Wikipedia is usually not on that list. Most people use Wikipedia as a resource for finding information, but in fact it is a social media site. Every article on Wikipedia was created by a user and posted on Wikipedia. Anyone can create or edit an article entry, comment or edit on anything. Many celebrities and business organizations have created articles on themselves, providing easily accessed information about themselves to the general public (Giles, 2005). Most large organizations are listed on Wikipedia and is a great way to educate the public about your company (“Should You”, 2015).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
Pros
Wikipedia is a great place to go to get general and relatively detailed knowledge about anything without going to 100 websites. Everything is cited for those who are willing to look for the information (Giles, 2005). And believe it or not, multiple studies have shown that Wikipedia is just as accurate as the great Encyclopedia Britannica, as stated by Nature magazine and many others (Wolchover, 2011). Many scholars admit they use Wikipedia themselves, even though they do not accept it as a credible source (West, 2008). It also serves the business owner as to provide validity to your brand name other your website. Although it will not sell more products for you, it gives your brand more Credibility and depth on the internet.
Ever since its creation, credibility issues have plagued Wikipedia, even though they clearly state that the information cannot be trusted, nor is it a true encyclopedia (West, 2008). But that is to be expected from an open-user-edit “encyclopedia”. But even scholars admit that they even use Wikipedia, but refuse to accept it as a source for reference (West, 2008). Once a company has created a page for themselves thy need to periodically check the page to ensure no one has vandalized the page or accidently put up false information. Stephen Colbert was notorious for wreaking havoc on Wikipedia through his audience on multiple occasions. Wikipedia had to block editing on many pages because of this (Wikipedia, n.d.).
Analysis
Wikipedia has become a household word in most homes today. If used correctly it can be a valuable tool, but can easily make you sound like an idiot (“Reliability of Wikipedia”, n.d.). Despite its “wiki” base structure, it is very accurate, not to mention convenient (Wolchover2011). But with its free edit policy, it can never truly be trusted.
As long as Wikipedia continues to follow its free-edit philosophy, it will never be able to shed the bad name it has earned. I never use Wikipedia other than getting a quick overview on a subject. It serves the business owner the most in my opinion. Having a website, other than your own, that can verify all of your information gives great depth to the credibility of an online company. The internet is full of scams and fraudulent websites, which makes it hard decipher between the legitimate companies and scams. If users learn to utilize Wikipedia for its true purpose, it’s one of the most valuable resources on the internet.
References
Competitive Intelligence. (2015, February 6). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/wikipedia.org
Giles, J. (2005, December 1). Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005Natur.438
Reliability of Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
Should You or Your Business Be on Wikipedia? The Pros and Cons. (2009, May 15). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.thewritersforhire.com/copywriting/should-you-or-your-business-be-on-wikipedia-the-pros-and-cons/
West, N. (2008, September 3). The Pros and Cons of Wikipedia. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://jg-tc.com/lifestyles/the-pros-and-cons-of-wikipedia/article_132b226d-8b6e-5f63-a928-cc8992a318ba.html
Wikimedia Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation
Wolchover, B. (2011, January 24). How Accurate Is Wikipedia? Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/32950-how-accurate-is-wikipedia.html Reliability of Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
Contact Information
To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About Wikipedia: An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].
To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About Wikipedia: An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].
The mission of the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University is to provide educational experiences for personal, professional and intellectual growth, enable the creation and sharing of knowledge to enhance learning and to advance the practice of business, and engage communities through service to positively impact their future. The Accounting and Business programs in the College of Business are accredited by the AACSB International.
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