The future of PR on Wikipedia
- David King is the founder of EthicalWiki, a firm specializing in Wikipedia–commercial relations. The views expressed are those of the author only; responses and critical commentary are invited in the comments section.
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There has never been a better time to improve the behavior of marketing professionals on Wikipedia. For the first time we're seeing self-imposed statements of ethics. Professional PR bodies around the globe have supported the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) guidance for ethical Wikipedia engagement (not to directly edit articles). Although their tone is different, CREWE and the PRSA have brought more attention to the issues. Awareness among PR professionals is rising. So are the number of paid editing operations sprouting up and the opportunity for dialogue.
We have an opportunity to shape this relationship, influence behavior, establish processes, set policy and improve administration. If we can establish a beneficial relationship with companies, we can improve Wikipedia's credibility by reducing overt advertising, while reducing the burden of policing disruptive COIs. We can transform disruptive editors into helpful ones and maybe even turn some PR people into volunteers. To get there, we need to identify a more natural and productive relationship between PR people and Wikipedians.