Wiki 101 for Corporate Communications – Part II, The Downside
So you want to build a wiki. Of course you do – good wikis are great knowledge-sharing tools and are a fantastic way to use social media to measurably improve your organization’s capacity for collaboration.
Not so fast. Wikis have downsides.
Here’s a list of the top 5 problems faced by aspiring corporate wiki-builders.
1) Content vs. participation. A brand-new wiki is an empty box. There are no articles or topics, and nothing much to see. So you have to populate the wiki with good content. But it’s hard to get people to visit the wiki (and populate it) without having some reason for them to visit the wiki. Like good content. See the problem?
2) Maintenance. Like a garden, wikis need someone to organize content, help users by adding internal links and structure, and ‘prune’ where necessary in the rare cases where inappropriate content ends up in the wiki (or in common cases where a bit of editing will offer clarity and brevity.) So you will need to add, if not head-count, then at least a new task for someone in the organization – the ‘wiki gardener.’ That person will have to have a rare hybrid combination of social, technical and writing skill. The more traffic the wiki gets, the busier the gardener gets.
3) Longevity. Wikis, like websites, lose their relevance if the information they provide isn’t kept up to date. Most organizations will have more wiki ‘readers’ than contributors, so if you want a diverse selection of content, you’ll have to go ask for it from time to time. You’ll also have ask knowledgeable people to read it for accuracy and quality.
4) The IT side can be messy. Your organization’s existing content management system might offer wiki functionality. If so, and you are only looking for an enterprise wiki, you can vastly simplify wiki construction by using what’s there (if the functionality meets your needs.) If not, you are looking at an IT challenge at some level.
5) Buy-in. If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve probably correctly concluded that you aren’t going to be able to do this by yourself. Correct! You will need willing participants in many parts of your organization who will be willing to contribute to the wiki, as well as buy-in from various departments (IT, corporate communications, legal, and sometimes HR.)
If you still want a wiki, Part III will talk about how to get started.