Comments on: Putting Wikis to Work for Your PR Program

By: Mike Manuel

Mike Manuel — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 18:26:27 +0000

Wikipedia clearly takes the cake, but yeah, there are other projects worth noting — mostly books it seems. Larry Lessig’s book rev for “Code” is being done via wiki (here). Likewise, Dan Gillmor and JD Lasica also relied on wikis (in some capacitiy) for thier book projects. There’s a longer list of wiki projects here.

By: Dan Forbush

Dan Forbush — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 18:11:21 +0000

Mike —

Nicely said about “pain points.” Other than Wikipedia, have you seen ANY outstanding example of a public wiki that’s supporting true, self-generative collaboration? Just curious …

Dan

By: Eric Schwartzman

Eric Schwartzman — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 17:15:35 +0000

Versionitis. I know it all too well. Excellent job articulating to benefits of Wikis.

By: David Phillips

David Phillips — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 11:06:42 +0000

Hmmm.. I agree about document sharing having some value but the joy of a Wiki is that it can be widely shared. An amendment by a CEO may give a product manager the shivers and, in a networked organisation the CEO is not the only boss. Of course educating some CEO’s may take a while but those who dont understand the Internet paradigm will be doing a lot of gardening soon anyway.

Its a culture thing as well.

By: Mike Manuel

Mike Manuel — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 17:41:10 +0000

Agreed, although in the case of approvals, it’ll be interesting to see what shakes out as the best solution. For some, wikis will do the trick. For others, new services like Writely could be the ticket. And I wouldn’t rule MSFT out from baking better lightweight collaboration (ugh, I said it) features into Office and other applications either.

By: David Phillips

David Phillips — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:35:39 +0000

One wonderful application is the ankle-bitter-like problem of approvals. First there is the brief. Everyone wants a say, then there is the first draft and first approval hurdle, then the next, then the lawyers and then the Deputy CEO and then – the deadline left the station without you. Enter Wiki.

As a productivity enhancer, this has to be the toy.

And, what happens to all that background briefing stuff. Great for journalists but also for sales staff, product designers, brand managers – the list goes on. Wiki’s have a big future in PR.

By: Mike Manuel

Mike Manuel — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 04:13:31 +0000

You probably don’t want to hear this, but I think the answer to your question is “it depends….”

Again, I default to the belief that you need to really understand what the pain points are in your existing work process before you can throw new technology at the problem. And let the problems you identify dictate which technology you ultimately turn to.

I think wikis and blogs each lends themselves nicely to certain common problems, especially in PR. Not knowing your’s, its hard to say, but generally speaking, your program will likely benefit from the application of either technology.

By: David Pipper

David Pipper — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:28:50 +0000

Mike, any advice on whether or not a small group that’s just now experimenting with new technology (particularly blogs and wikis) should take one platform over the other? Is a blog better than a wiki?