Wired was just one of the gazillion Web sites and newspapers recently reporting on how the CIA, the Vatican, the Democratic Party and others have been, um, updating Wikipedia entries.

This is sorta old news, but the story has stronger-than-usual legs because of Wikipedia Scanner, a new tool that matches IP addresses with Wikipedia edits to more easily reveal who is making those edits.

Here’s a page that details some of the most interesting recent edits.

Ultimately, this story will reflect more poorly on those caught doing self-serving edits than it will on the veracity of Wikipedia. If you’ve done any Wikipedia writing or editing, you probably already know that scrutiny of Wikipedia itself is far more intense than most people realize. You may get away with something, but not for long. Which is more or less what this article in today’s Times is about.

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re editing your company’s Wikipedia entry, do it from home. Oh, and edit objectively … because people will notice.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.