Revising in plain sight

The do’s and don’ts of editing your organisation’s Wikipedia page

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 has developed into one of the most popular websites across the globe. It is currently the seventh most popular website in the world following Facebook, Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, Amazon and Baidu.   
 
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.

Marcia DiStaso

Marcia W. DiStaso is an assistant professor of public relations in the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University. She is an award-winning public relations professional and educator specialising in social media and financial communication. She has been conducting research on Wikipedia since 2006.