Why Wikipedia Matters
First off, I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. We are just a few days away from Christmas and a week later it is New Year's Day.
Now for the exciting part of today's post: why Wikipedia matters. Wikipedia has become the standard for quickly looking up information. Google will most likely refer you to Wikipedia when performing a search. I was able to play around with Wikipedia recently while helping out Jim Renacci's campaign for the U.S. House race in Ohio's 16th Congressional district. His entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Renacci.
On a personal level, I have it say Wikipedia is a lot of fun. You add an entry with some information and a couple days later you find out other people contributed to the entry. It is literally a collaboration project with everyone in the world. I strongly encourage everyone to participate, even if it is on topics not relating to politics.
Before you jump into Wikipedia, you need to be aware of a few rules. First, Wikipedia is not an "encyclopedia of everything." You must prove your topic's importance. Often this can be done by linking the post to other Wikipedia posts. For example, Jim Renacci's was linked to the Columbus Destroyers Arena Football team because he is an owner of the team. However, this is not necessary. State Rep. Ron Amstutz has an entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Amstutz. His entry has been there for years and oddly enough has been simplified to one sentence. Secondly, Wikipedia is not a place to self advertise. This rule is mainly targeted at businesses, but still applies to politicians. The Wikipedia entry needs to come across as non-partisan with facts not opinions. For example, you can say "Mr. X has worked in the health care industry for many years," but not "Mr. X's experience in the health care industry will help us solve the looming health care crisis." There are people who work with Wikipedia who check all of the entries to ensure they do not violate either of those rules. Do not try to trick them. It will not work!
So if Wikipedia's rules are so strict and non-partisan what is the advantage. The truth is, for a campaign, a Wikipedia page is indispensable. As stated above, Google often likes Wikipedia entries. Most likely it will show up on the first page of results. Since it is non-partisan, you shouldn't have to worry about what it says. Furthermore, while the entry is suppose to be neutral and independent, a link to the campaign site is acceptable. In other words, Wikipedia will give your campaign lots of visibility. Furthermore, since search engines (e.g. Google) like Wikipedia so much, having a link to your website from Wikipedia will boost your site's rankings on search engines (good for search engine optimization). It great for rankings and it is a link that is relatively easy to get.
The next post will be January 4th, 2010.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Now for the exciting part of today's post: why Wikipedia matters. Wikipedia has become the standard for quickly looking up information. Google will most likely refer you to Wikipedia when performing a search. I was able to play around with Wikipedia recently while helping out Jim Renacci's campaign for the U.S. House race in Ohio's 16th Congressional district. His entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Renacci.
On a personal level, I have it say Wikipedia is a lot of fun. You add an entry with some information and a couple days later you find out other people contributed to the entry. It is literally a collaboration project with everyone in the world. I strongly encourage everyone to participate, even if it is on topics not relating to politics.
Before you jump into Wikipedia, you need to be aware of a few rules. First, Wikipedia is not an "encyclopedia of everything." You must prove your topic's importance. Often this can be done by linking the post to other Wikipedia posts. For example, Jim Renacci's was linked to the Columbus Destroyers Arena Football team because he is an owner of the team. However, this is not necessary. State Rep. Ron Amstutz has an entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Amstutz. His entry has been there for years and oddly enough has been simplified to one sentence. Secondly, Wikipedia is not a place to self advertise. This rule is mainly targeted at businesses, but still applies to politicians. The Wikipedia entry needs to come across as non-partisan with facts not opinions. For example, you can say "Mr. X has worked in the health care industry for many years," but not "Mr. X's experience in the health care industry will help us solve the looming health care crisis." There are people who work with Wikipedia who check all of the entries to ensure they do not violate either of those rules. Do not try to trick them. It will not work!
So if Wikipedia's rules are so strict and non-partisan what is the advantage. The truth is, for a campaign, a Wikipedia page is indispensable. As stated above, Google often likes Wikipedia entries. Most likely it will show up on the first page of results. Since it is non-partisan, you shouldn't have to worry about what it says. Furthermore, while the entry is suppose to be neutral and independent, a link to the campaign site is acceptable. In other words, Wikipedia will give your campaign lots of visibility. Furthermore, since search engines (e.g. Google) like Wikipedia so much, having a link to your website from Wikipedia will boost your site's rankings on search engines (good for search engine optimization). It great for rankings and it is a link that is relatively easy to get.
The next post will be January 4th, 2010.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
posted by Brian Boyer at
12:22 PM
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