Blog v Wiki

Blogs are more on the personal side of posting and connecting with an audience. Most people who have blogs are posting to a target audience about a specific interest. Bloggers can all be connected similar to social media platforms, they can follow each other and comment/like on posts. According to the article, "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog" by Michael Barbaro, Wal-Mart's customers, employees, and others are creating post on a specific blog dedicated to Wal-Mart. The post unveil future move made by Wal-Mart to the public before it occurs. Wal-Mart is embracing the blog, stating, "The web site helps buyers solicit quick feedback from consumers on the merchandise." The blog creates an open connection between the buyers and sellers of merchandise, a connection that wasn't readily established prior to the blog. This allows sellers to be aware of what consumers need/want, of what they dislike, and their response to new products. The benefit of blogging this sort of information is that no one can edit your blog. Wiki's require more of a team collaboration. They are useful in group projects, presentations, and idea generation among many other things. However, blogs can also be used in collaborations. According to the article, "Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People" by Noam Cohen, users will need to gain approval on their edits about people. The people in charge of wikipedia, are striving for a more "mature and dependable" site. Is Wikipedia turning into a blog structured site? What happened to the ability to freely contribute to the site? Because of constant issues with important individuals wikipedia page and the lack of trust generated by the public towards the content posted, Wikipedia has arranged for a more trusted group of individuals to edit and scope the content on these pages. Since Wikipedia is now controlling the content that is being posted, it is becoming more like a blog than a wiki. The constant advancement of these media outlets will eventually lead to both of them merging into one. Blogs will have features of wikis and wikis will have features of blogs. 

Reference:

1. Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write a Blunt and Unfiltered Blog, NY Times, march 3, 2008, p. C1, at:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html 
2. "Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People" by Noam Cohen, The New York Times, August 24, 2009. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?_r=1