Wikipedia

When I googled “wiki,” the first relevant response, ironically, directs me to Wikipedia’s article about wikis. Wikipedia, banned by professors and scholars everywhere, is in fact the most well known wiki.

A wiki is an online source that allows anyone to publish his or her own information about any topic. According to Wikipedia, the term wiki is derived from the Hawaiian word for “fast” and is an acronym for “What I Know Is.”

The first known wiki was published in 1995 on the Web site WikiWikiWeb. Wikis quickly expanded into the business world. Companies recognized their abilities to quickly communicate among employees. They utilized this ease and replaced the intranet with wikis. Since then, wiki has made its mark in the technological world. In 2007, it was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

They are incredibly convenient and have endless information all at one location in the vast universe of cyberspace. Anyone can contribute information, resulting in a more comprehensive encyclopedia entry.

However, this is the primary Achilles heel of the wiki. If anyone can anonymously publish information, how do you know if it is accurate?

Wikipedia came across this problem in 2005. In May of 2005, Brian Chase posted erroneous information about his colleague journalist John Seigenthaler Sr. Chase accused Seigenthaler of involvement in the assassinations of both President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. The post remained on Wikipedia for four months until it was discovered.

This false entry is also known as “trolling” or the intentional vandalism of the site. Wikipedia approaches false posting with the attitude that incorrect information is easier to delete than it is to deter. Misleading information is the chief reason why professors ask their students to use sources other than Wikipedia. Yet, with such an accessible Web site, is this fair? Wikipedia is the one-stop shop for any and all information.

All credibility is not lost though. Public relations practitioners are employing wikis to communicate with one another and gauge opinions. The New PR/Wiki Web site is one such site. PR professionals blog and communicate with one another via this site.

However, new technology has made the “anonymous” posts not so anonymous anymore. Identifying IP addresses has shed light on PR practitioners contributing information on wikis that either benefit their own organization or slur another.

Wikis are a fascinating concept. They can potentially offer so much useful information. With the growth in popularity of private wikis, the possibilities of this expanding technology are endless. Supervising the accuracy of posts is the obstacle preventing the breakthrough of the wiki.

Question: If the most extensive information I could find about wikis was on Wikipedia, how much should you trust this article?

For more information, visit:

http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.ph

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/15/wikipedia-editiing-publishing-tech-security-cx_ag_0815wiki.html

By: Allison Key

Search Engine Optimization

What is Search Engine Optimization?

If you’re like me, Google is the first Web site you visit when you have a question or need to do some research. Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines (such as Google) via search results. The earlier a site appears in the search results, or the higher it ranks, the more likely searchers are to visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of searches, including image searches, local searches, and industry-specific searches.

How to Optimize your Web site

Optimizing a Web site involves editing the content and HTML coding to increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. In other words, it makes the Web site easier to find through a search engine. Sometimes a site’s structure, or the relationship between its content, must be altered too. If you’re interested in doing this to your own Web site and a lot more tech-savvy than I am, here are complete instructions on how to optimize your Web site. (http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm)

Why is SEO important?

As an internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. It has become a very important tool for companies because consumers are relying more on Web sites to find trusted information. Chevy, in order to save money on advertisements, has recently cut back on television commercials and has focused more on its Web site. Chevy made use of SEO to increase traffic to their Web site. When people put in the key word “car” into a Google search, Chevy ensured through SEO that they would be one of the first sites listed. This allowed Chevy to lure customers who are not loyal to one specific car brand. SEO is a great way for companies to increase traffic to Web sites and can potentially save a lot of money on advertisements.

What does SEO mean to Public Relations Professionals?

It is very important for public relations professionals to make use of SEO for their clients. The internet has become into a huge medium for finding information and researching a product. Getting your client’s Web site to be the first site listed in a Google search can help your client achieve a numbers of goals and will prove your value as a public relation practitioner.

To learn more about Search Engine Optimization, visit the following site:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

By: Ellen Greenwell