Marketing and Wikipedia Are Antonyms

Rohit Bhargava sees a way for marketers to carefully become part of the Wikipedia community by creating short articles in an effort to facilitate further discussion. The key, he says, is to let go once you've jumped in.

Bhargava cites comments by Jeff Watts, Search & Community Manager for National Instruments, who shared that his company added the term 'LabView' to Wikipedia two years ago with a 40 character marketing description. Within 20 minutes, the post had been edited, and it now is several pages deep. It also appears prominently in Google searches for Labview.

This is a high risk strategy that probably is not worth it. Two years ago was a different time than today and I commend National Instruments for giving it a go. However, I think today the Wikipedia community largely frowns when we wade into their waters. If corporations begin to make edits and add articles to Wikipedia in big numbers, it could create a backlash. The best bet is to look, not touch. Marketing and Wikipedia are antonyms. (Via Shel Holtz)

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