Wiki

A wiki is a collaborative, user-generated webpage that hosts content about specific events or topics. Wiki software enables registered users to contribute to a wiki page by writing, editing, or deleting content. Hyperlinks within the content of a page link to other pages with related content, and the links between pages create a network of wikis, which is also known as a knowledge network.

In public relations, wikis are commonly used in three ways: (1) monitoring information about an organization or client, (2) creating a knowledge network, and (3) sharing information across a diverse network. Monitoring information for an organization or client involves regular scanning for mentions of an organization, as well as monitoring for issue-specific content. On open wiki sites, users can mention an organization's involvement in an event or topic, or create new wiki pages specific to organizations or clients. Practitioners often monitor the information accuracy on wikis (e.g., what people say on Wikipedia about an organization). Monitoring often leads to practitioners contributing to wikis themselves, by editing or commenting on incorrect information and sharing accurate information. However, many public sites like Wikipedia forbid organizations or people from editing their own pages.

Organizations can use knowledge networks as a method for collaborating on projects with multiple publics. Knowledge network wikis store information in a central location that member users can access. Organizations hosting a knowledge network wiki determine user or visitor access privileges. Full access allows members to create new pages or edit content. Other privileges may be limited to editing particular pages, or commenting.

The website Wikipedia, which launched in 2001, is the most famous public wiki and is used by many as a source of general information. Many communication professionals, including Paul Levinson (2012), have suggested that user-generated knowledge is a significant break in tradition from appointed experts determining the accuracy of information. Wikipedia allows nearly anyone to create new pages, edit content, and delete information.

The rules of access and contribution to every wiki vary. Wikipedia, for example, requires anonymity but maintains a public record of user changes. Because of the ease of access and limited monitoring of such a big informational space, some Wikipedia users have altered pages about public figures, political topics, and controversial events with false, biased, and inaccurate, information.

On a professional, private wiki, the identity of contributors is known, and the purpose of posts is to share information of value with the intellectual or professional community served. For example, a public relations agency might employ a wiki to organize and facilitate various client services, especially with geographically dispersed teams. Team members can access the wiki for instructions on how to use specific tools and create agency-styled reports. Instead of a single, geographically bound expert on media monitoring applications, a wiki can disperse such information to other team members.