Blog v Wiki

   The main difference between blog and wiki is that blog can be written by one person and wiki is contributed by a group of people. On blogs, readers can comment on the blogs ; however, bloggers can edit the body of the post. On wikis, team effort can be seen. According to Microsoft Office, wiki team writes wikis as a collective process. Anyone in the group can change or edit the contents. The most well-known example of wiki is Wikipedia, on which people from all around the world can change and edit the information. A person’s knowledge or information can be overridden by another on wiki while a blogger has overall power on blogs.

    Aside the differences, blogs and wikis have become the important part of globalization. We read blogs and wikis to learn about political, economical, environmental, fashion and different lifestyles. They are both significant especially in management. According to an article from Information Week, wikis will finally replace content management tools in business world because it can solve the problems of traditional tools and is simple enough for nontechnical employees to use. In the future, wikis will most likely replace traditional way of executing group projects from office to classroom. I wish I knew more about wiki and used it in high school.Learning how to use wiki can save time and organize team projects more effectively. Also, wikis can be used as a diary of a group of people sharing memories together! Basically, wiki is a simple tool from office to personal life.

   According to NY times article, General Motors, Dell and Boeing have corporate blogs, but Wal-Mart brings the use of blogs to the next level.  They created “checkoutblog.com”  to get authentic feedback from their customers. Simply put, blogs can also be collaboration instead of solo effort. From Wal-Mart example, they utilize real people as their marketing tools on blogs because blogging is a new word-of-mouth marketing. Convergence of blogs and wikis will make lives more convienient in either choosing what products to buy or compiling research information. Thus, blogs and wikis are similar yet different enough to help improve communication.

More Details:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html