Of all the information sources available on the internet, one of the most widely used is Wikipedia. Since its founding in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, Wikipedia is currently the seventh most popular website in the world following Facebook, Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, and Baidu.com.
This online free-content encyclopedia is based on an openly edited model. This means that Wikipedia is written collaboratively by the public along with select anonymous unpaid volunteers known as “wikipedians.” According to Wikipedia, anyone with internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except those deemed to have a conflict of interest.
Jimmy Wales describes the conflict of interest issue this way: “There is a very simple ‘bright line’ rule that constitutes best practice: do not edit Wikipedia directly if you are a paid advocate.” His comment refers to the Wikipedia conflict of interest policy that prohibits public relations or communications professionals who work for an organisation from directly contributing to their Wikipedia content. This also applies to those working for a public relations agency or Wikipedia firm hired by an organisation.
This leaves communications professionals with a conundrum. How should Wikipedia be handled? Unfortunately, the answer is not simple.
