Abrams Research Blog

You’ve heard it before: “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.” But for Wikipedia, too many cooks may not be such a bad thing. Common sense recognizes the collective wisdom of the group; the more who contribute, balance and check, the (hopefully) better the final outcome. Common sense also dictates that a website whose traffic dominates Yahoo, Google and MSN should be taken seriously.

To test the “Wikipedia Effect” (how public opinion forms a Wikipedia article and how Wikipedia affects search engine results), Marcia Watson DiStaso and Marcus Messener of The Institute for Public Relations analyzed the wiki’s influence on the social media platforms of 10 of the most visible U.S. companies.

What did they find? read more »

“If relationship George walks through this door, he will kill independent George. A George divided against itself, cannot stand.”

I can almost hear George Costanza (from Seinfeld, for those of you that have been living under a rock for the past 20 years). spewing those same words today. But instead of “relationship George” and “independent George,” he could just as easily be saying “internet George” and “real-life George.” Almost inevitably, the popular character of Seinfeld would have a Facebook, Twitter, or some kind of social networking device allowing the him to clumsily post grievances about his job at The New York Yankees, or tweet out his affair with the cleaning lady at Pendant Publishing. Think of the comic possibilities!  Without a doubt, George Costanza would experience a collision of viral proportions.

I call it the “Spheres Colliding Theory”—when one is caught between the life they lead and the life they tweet. The intersection of these dual identities is becoming more and more evident, as our sometimes have radical implications on our real world selves. We tend to think of these areas as separate. Our familiarity with the Internet and operations in the cloud sometimes lead to a false sense of security and anonymity. (Think about those stories of average suburban dads running bordellos in Second Life). In reality, accountability is alive and well. Creating a broadly mediated self across the spheres is an important part of living in a digital age.

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