WikiLeaks Movie, The Fifth Estate, highlights the power and impact of Wiki Technology and Crowd-sourcing. While not all wikis are the same, the DreamWorks movie alerts business executives to the impact and reach of the powerful technology. On Oct 18, Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios will premier its movie, The Fifth Estate, based on the real events surrounding the controversial website, Wikileaks. The website, which gave whistle blowers the opportunity to anonymously leak confidential government and corporate information, was built using wiki technology–but not all wikis are the same.
WikiLeaks Movie – The Fifth Estate not all wikis are the same
WikiLeaks Movie – The Fifth Estate not all wikis are the same
A wiki is a web application which allows people to add, modify, or delete content in collaboration with others. Wiki technology is used as a platform to enable crowd-sourcing, the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written collaboratively by the people who use it, is often mistakenly associated with Wikileaks, but the two are not affiliated.
“There is no connection between these organizations,” states Alex Konanykhin, CEO of WikiExperts, a Wikipedia visibility and monitoring service. “Both use wiki technology, but neither owns it. While WikiLeaks once used the technology to allow whistleblowers to expose government and corporate secrets, Wikipedia is a much more benign site where the world can contribute to and reference a common encyclopedia, and notable corporations and individuals can establish a global presence.”
With nearly 400 million unique visitors each month and 3,000 consultations per second, Wikipedia is the primary global source for consumer and business information. A study recently released by WikiExperts, revealed that 97% of Fortune 500 companies have Wikipedia profiles, and that these profiles typically show up within the first 10 Google search results for the brand. With 93% of online searches beginning with a search engine, and Google owning an estimated 70% of the search engine market share, the visibility and referencing of these profiles will only continue to increase.
WikiLeaks Movie – The Fifth Estate not all wikis are the same
When asked for his opinion regarding WikiLeaks, Konanykhin responded, “According to the Nuremberg principles, people have not just the right, but the duty to expose illegal government activities, so I find whistle blowing of unlawful activity justified. At the same time, I believe that disclosures must be limited to unlawful activities only, and that legitimate secrets, whether governmental, corporate or private, should be respected.”
Konanykhin emphasizes that the work WikiExperts performs is limited to visibility on Wikipedia, where it assists notable companies, organizations, and individuals in optimizing their Wikipedia profiles, in all major languages. “We’ve done this work for many leading corporations, top celebrities, politicians and non-profits, and WikiExperts is an important unit of our OnlinevisibilityExperts.com agency. Wikipedia profiles have a significant impact on the reputations and public opinion of businesses, and in many cases, because of their neutral nature, wield greater consumer influence than that of corporate websites.”
