Blogs vs Wikis

     Convergence, or the process of coming together and working in unity, is ever-important in today's uber-networked world. We now have a plethora of technological tools to use at our disposal in order to facilitate this attempt at uniformity. Blogs and wikis are two networking platforms that have come to light in recent years in this regard. They both possess some of the same general characteristics, allowing for group collaboration and the publishing of thoughts and ideas to the web, while encouraging reactions by readers/participants. However, depending on what is to be accomplished, there is one clear-cut choice as to which is better than the other.
A wiki can be thought of as a sort of "open-sourced" website, allowable to be edited by any participant. Wikis are best used for collaboration by many with one centralized goal to be accomplished, for example, a group project. Margaret Lacher wrote about the benefits of wikis in her article, "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia," explaining, "By making it easier to gather and share information as well as record discussions about a subject, wikis... can help people improve their processes and get projects done faster." Every participant can add content to the wiki, which is to say, they all have an equal voice on an equal platform.
Blogs are more about one author (or group of authors) posting his/her own opinion on a subject. The blog posts are usually meant to inform or reflect, and encourage readers to add their insight in the form of a comment. Readers typically do not add their own blog posts, and thus can be thought of as secondary voices, while the author is the main, primary voice. That is not to say that the commentor's opinions are not heard. In his article, "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog," Michael Barbaro explains how Walmart set up a blog to gather insights on their products from little known consumers, rather than a few executives. He explains, "The result is an intensely personal window into the lives, preferences and quirks of the powerful tastemakers at Wal­Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, who have spent years shielded from public view." Barbaro goes on to state how the consumer's opinions have an enormous impact, earning or costing vendors millions of dollars. When a blog can be used in this sense, valuing the opinions of the readers just as much as the opinions of the author, it can serve as a great platform for collaboration.