IT Rules and Regulation
An alternative to a blog might be a wiki. Nucleus Research defines a wiki as “a collectively created and maintained web page where individuals are free to edit, add, remove and change content." The best known wiki is Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that is maintained by users from around the world and is supported in a number of different languages. Nucleus notes that while most wikis are largely used by individuals in their personal lives as a forum for discussing hobbies, brainstorming ideas, and collaborating on various projects, they are encroaching on work and business as a way of creating collaborative environments. Among the companies successfully using wikis are big hitters such as Disney, Yahoo, Motorola and SAP – athough not all for customer-facing interactions.
There are pros and cons to the Wiki approach. On the plus side, they are easy to use as content editors and authors do not need code writing capabilities. They’re also quick with users able to create a stream of information that will be automatically stored within that environment that can be revisited later. They also have an authoring trail which discourages abuse of content authoring and fosters greater information accuracy. Most of all, they are empowering to the readers (customers, remember) who have platform on which to share opinion.