Wikipedia's visibility in popular culture has helped evangelize the wiki model, and niche wikis have helped bring this new format into mainstream acceptance. Not surprisingly, wiki readers vastly outnumber those who edit or modify: In our poll, 77 percent claim to have never modified a wiki; only 5 percent say they edit entries at least once a week.
Blogging is popular, with 18 percent reporting that they have a personal blog; only 9.5 percent have a corporate blog. Respondents said good blogs are authentic, credible, fresh, compelling and well-written. We also received many comments on what makes a poor blog, but the overall consensus is that people tend to be too blunt and tactless when posting messages.
This is a valid concern for enterprises: Employees who blog on corporate sites are a reflection of your organization. Unfortunately, most respondents don't have a well-defined policy for blogging. The number of readers who said they are expected to write positive comments about their companies on the corporate blog was double that of those who are free to be open. This is where policy and practice meet: A successful public blogging initiative cannot be just marketing rehash. Users must have the freedom to be critical, so that they can build community trust and get legitimate feedback from their readers. If a blogger writes "We know this feature isn't great, what would you like us to improve?," you've turned all the blog followers into ideal beta testers.
Overall, 19 percent of those who've implemented blogs, podcasts, wikis or community-based Web sites did so with success. Of those who do not use new media, some cited the technical ability of users as the reason. One said: "The majority of tech-based employees can't even use e-mail effectively. I just don't see them comprehending, much less utilizing, a blog-, podcast- or wiki-based information exchange system."
We also saw a few references to permission: "I work for a huge company and cannot make these decisions without going through legal and God knows where else. It isn't worth it."
By all indications, Web syndication is something to consider. Fifty-five percent of readers said Web feeds and RSS will be very important in the future, with only 13 percent disagreeing. When it came to usage, 30 percent read RSS feeds regularly. Considering that Windows does not yet come with a default RSS reader, we consider that 30 percent a good portent.
