Blogs VS. Wikis

Being in a professional environment there is really a very clear distinction between blogs and wikis. I had the opportunity to use both, and I find that blogs in the professional environment serve as a mass communication that is used to post information, plans, achievements, ideas etc. Wiki’s usually serve as a “internal encyclopedia” in “Diverse organizations, including businesses, schools and government agencies, are waking up to the benefits of wikis” as mentioned in More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia, for software development area it will include development documentation and other information about a project, in other areas it may be used as a guide for some corporate functions that require some sort of knowledge that is accumulated over time and once a wiki is available with all the knowledge recorded the process is some what smoother.

Outside of the corporate world I think blogs serve a more personalized content the is created by a user for a user, “ I heard the news about Yahoo! buying Tumblr had been confirmed after hearing these news I put my hands up and yelled “NOOOOOOOOO” and got down on my knees ‘sobbing’," writes one Tumblr user.” is a great example from the article Yahoo Acquires Tumblr, Promises 'Not to Screw It Up' of how involved the users are with the platform they use to maintain their blog on various subjects the style of writing is usually more personalized where in wiki’s it will be somewhat more official.