BLOGS & WIKIS

This morning, one of my work colleagues asked about the difference between a Blog and a Wiki. Here's what IBM has to say.

BLOG
What it is: A blog (short for “web log”) is a website that consists of a series of entries arranged in reverse chronological order. It may be the recorded ideas of an individual or a complex collaboration open to anyone. Blogs often focus on a particular subject, such as technology, politics or local news. A typical blog combines text, images and links to other media related to its topic. The “blogosphere” doubles in size every 6 months. 75,000 new blogs are started every day and 1.2 million new entries are posted daily — or about 50,000 blog updates every hour.

What it does: Because they can be updated in real-time and provide a sense of personal connection between readers and authors, blogs have become an increasingly influential form of communication. The role of blogs in breaking, shaping and spinning new stories has revolutionized communication tactics for a variety of activities including political campaigns, marketing efforts and business analysis.

WIKIS
What it is: A wiki is a type of website that allows users to add, remove or edit content, very quickly and easily. In essence, a wiki is a simplified way of creating web pages, that has been combined with a system to record each individual change over time. The most famous example of a wiki is Wikipedia. Started only five years ago, Wikipedia is already the world’s largest and most accurate encyclopedia, boasting more than 3.8 million articles and editions in 100+ languages — all produced through content contributed voluntarily by more than 360,000 people around the world.What it does: Because wikis are so easy to use, they’ve become an effective tool for collaborative writing and knowledge-management. Wikis are gaining recognition as valuable knowledge resources, helping to foster a sense that the recording of language and history belongs to a global community rather than a select group of academics.