Blogs vs. Wikis

What are Blogs and Wikis? They have been around for quite some time now, but until now they have been in the shadows. Blogs and Wikis are being used more and more in everyday life be it in our personal lives and in our professional lives.
Blogs and wikis are similar in some ways and different in others. One main difference between them is the fact that blogs are posted by a "blogger" and cannot be edited, but wikis are created by an individual and can be edited by anyone who may want to add or change the information on the wiki. Another difference between them is that blogs are used to extract information as noted in a New York Times article titled, "Wal-mart Tastesmakers Write Unfiltered Blog," which notes how Wal-Mart, who has strict policies, created a blog called checkoutblog.com that differs from traditional corporate blogs by allowing its buyers to write unedited comments to help them better serve their customers. Wikis on the other hand are used for providing information, where a user will create a wiki page with information on a certain topic and others are welcomed to edit and update the information to make it more accurate.

Similarities between the two social media tools is that they can be accessed by anyone in the world, they can be edited easily, they provide updated information, the information they provide may not be reliable, and they both bring people together. An example of how blogs can be used to bring people together is shown in this New York Times titled, "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid," which depicts a story of how bloggers in the Bay Ridge area posted comments about suspicious activity that was occurring around their neighborhood. The posts by the bloggers and their concern for their neighborhood brought them together as these individuals who were strangers came together to bring the events that they observed to light by going to the Community Board meetings and precincts to voice their concerns.

As shown by the previous example of how the blog brought the people together which ultimately ended in victory, tools such as blogs do promote collaboration by encouraging others to voice their opinions on certain topics. The option to post a comment anonymously also helps one to voice their opinions if they are unsure of what others might think of their thoughts.

The Evolution of The Use of Social Networking: Personal and Business

In the beginning there was sites such as Xanga, and MySpace that we all used to connect with each other through the web. Now sites such as Facebook and Twitter among others have popped up and revolutionized the way in which social networking is to be used. They have continually improved their interfaces and ease of use that now even older individuals are beginning to use Facebook. Additionally, businesses are even using social networking sites to advertise by posting promotions or new products on their Facebook pages or through tweets. Now that almost everyone has begun using social networking sites for various reasons, what's next?