ALMOST 60% OF ARTICLES ABOUT COMPANIES IN WIKIPEDIA CONTAINS ERRORS

Approximately 60% of the articles in the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, devoted to the company, include factual errors.

According to the rules of Wikipedia, authors must remain impartial, so articles with information about the company should not be adjusted people who are somehow related to them. To initiate change, they need to write a query on a page for discussions related to the article.

However, as shown by surveys of professionals from the PR-spheres, which are a lot of mistakes in the articles on their customers, to correct inaccuracies in this way is often not possible. Almost a quarter of respondents surveyed by researchers claim that they have abandoned the application for amendment of the articles have been ignored. In cases where changes have been made yet, it is sometimes lasted several days and sometimes weeks.

Senior Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Marcia Distaso, who conducted the study, said that Wikipedia should establish clear rules that tell us what can and can not be doing PR-specialists in the online encyclopedia. In addition, it is necessary to carry out regular checks of the accuracy of articles.

Recall, Wikipedia was launched in early 2001, today it is one of the most popular websites in the world. According to statistics from research firm comScore, only the English section of the resource visited by 25 million users daily.

UK PR-agency corrected the Wikipedia article for the benefit of customers

UK PR-agency Bell Pottinger Group has confirmed that some of the articles editor of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in the interests of their clients, reports The Independent.

As the newspaper notes, agency staff, using a variety of accounts, added positive comments and removed negative facts in articles related to the company's clients. In just the past year, experts in public relations corrected in the online encyclopedia of over 100 articles.

Nevertheless, representatives of the PR agency stressed that do not consider their actions illegal. According to head digital division of the company, James Tomlinson, the staff was not added in the article incorrect information and did not attempt to create a false positive impression about the product.

"If we were asked to write about our clients that is false, we would never have agreed, pointing to the strict rules of Wikipedia - added Tomlinson.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has called a formal response representative of the company Bell Pottinger Group ethical blindness. "The company has committed a mortal sin for the PR-agency and lobbying firm - said Wales. - Their actions damaged the reputation of the client, while not bringing them any benefits."

At the moment, all the accounts that were used by employees of lobbying companies are locked.