What is a blog? As defined on Wikipedia, A blog (a contraction of the words web log)[1] is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. What is a wiki? Wiki.org defines wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Inspired by Apple's HyperCard programming environment, the first wiki software was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as a way to manage the Portland Pattern Repository's site content. Named after wiki-wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, wikis are essentially Web pages that anyone — or at least anyone with permission — can create or edit. http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/167600331?pgno=1
A blog is an online diary and a wiki is a collaboration software tool. A blog is usually started by an individual and is edited by that individual. The blogger makes posts and allows other individuals to make comments on the posts. The blog does not allow other viewers the opportunity to edit the post of the blogger. Blog commenters can be more anonymous than on a wiki. A wiki is used for collaborative projects. A blog is used more for the expression of one's self. In a wiki there are a set of rules that have to be adhered to. A blog is used to post opinions on. In a wiki the validity of the information to be posted is usually agreed upon before the wiki is started. This is monitored. Changes to a wiki are usually monitored by experts in that field.
In the article in Informationweek "How To Use Wikis for Business", "In June, the Los Angeles Times created a wiki that it hoped would focus on the war in Iraq. The editors wrote an opinion piece entitled "War and Consequences" and invited anyone who cared to rewrite the editorial to take their best shot. Unfortunately, the denizens of the Internet saw fit to spam the "wikitorial" with porn and profanity, and after three days of maintenance hell, the newspaper took it down. " The article also stated "The real problem with the "wikitorial" was that the Times sent a wiki to do a blog's job." This meant that the Los Angeles Times used the wrong tool for what they were attempting. They should have used a blog if they wanted people to post their opinions on a topic and not facts. Blogs can work in business especially for Wal-Mart. In the article "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog", Wal-Mart, "
The result is an intensely personal window into the lives, preferences and quirks of the powerful tastemakers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, who have spent years shielded from public view.
Their decisions about what makes it onto Wal-Mart’s shelves have enormous impact, earning (or costing) vendors millions of dollars. It was a blogger on the Check Out, after all, who first disclosed last month that Wal-Mart would stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format, rather than the rival HD DVD system. The decision was considered the death knell for HD DVD. " This shows how useful a blog can be in business. It is the opinions of the consumers that made decisions about products. Using wiki instead of a blog would not have worked for Wal-Mart. In this way, the blog was collaborative. The blog allowed for people with various opinions to help with deciding what products would be worth putting on the shelves in the stores. This type of blogging is very helpful to us today. For example when I used to buy toys for my kids for Christmas in the 1990's I used to have to rely on a consumer magazine report for my information. It usually only listed a limited amount of toys and the safety of it. Today when I buy toys or electronics for my kids all I have to do is go to the internet and find a blog about that particular product. I don't want to just find out about the toy company which I could probably find in a company wiki but I want to find out the opinion of other consumers before I buy it. Thus the collaborative community does continue with the blog. I think that in the future more people will look to blogs for opinions on businesses before they even consider doing business with them. That is why as a wedding cake designer I like to check what, if anything, is said about my company on the blogs because people's opinions matter before they open their wallets to you. It can be the difference between a sale or no sale. The use of blogs and wikis continue to evolve. I feel that blogs will continue to grow as a tool for consumer decision making. I think that wikis will grow as a tool for people to gather information from. Wikis are very influential including Wikipedia and Wikileaks (I just saw the commercial for the upcoming movie and it looks intriguing).
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