I read a blog this week that really got me thinking about how impersonal communication has become. We are living in the digital age when sending an email or a text message is preferred over communication in person. Well, this blog talked about how things have change in business to business communication. In the old days, to get information about a company you would have to make a phone call or go door to door and speak to a real person. It is easy to forget how this digital age, and especially the Internet, has changed our lives. With the click of a button we are able to access the world and receive and contribute information to an online community. I think it is really great how how we can get to whatever information we need with ease, but is customer service and human communication soon coming to an end? Do you think computers and electronic operators will soon replace the little personal communication we have left? I believe if the digital age continues to thrive, we our on our way to a person-less form of communication.
November 13, 2008
PR and Wikipedia
I came across this post on PR Squared that discusses the ethical use of Wikipedia by public relations professionals. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia created by people who are knowledgeable about a certain topic, and it can be edited and changed by others. According to the blog, marketers have been known to take advantage of this public editing option by creating or editing entries that would be considered a conflict of interest to them. There are rules on Wikipedia that discourage self-promotion. Even if the people monitoring Wikipedia don’t catch you, competitors or other readers will.
Wikipedia is not the most reliable source of information and fact checking is required, but many people are not aware of this and take Wikipedia as fact. So it is important for PR professionals to monitor Wikipedia posts about their client or organization because it can severely damage their reputation if incorrect information is posted on the site. Because of this PR professionals argue that they should be able to edit the information themselves in order for it to be accurate.
What role do you see Wikipedia playing in public relations? Do you think PR professionals should work the system in order to post about their clients and organizations?
