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exchange information without waiting for a webmaster to update the site. He named
the site wiki, after the quick little Wiki-Wiki shuttle buses in Hawaii.
A public wiki survives thanks to the initiative, honesty, and integrity of its users.
Sites can be vandalized, derogatory remarks — called fl ames — can be posted, and mis-
information can be published. However, a vandalized site can be restored, a fl ame can
be erased, and information can be corrected by anyone who knows better. The com-
munity polices itself. Corporate wikis differ from public wikis in that they are more
secure and have many more navigation, usage, and help features. Corporate wikis are
used for project management and company communications and well as discussion
sites and knowledge databases. For example, a wiki can be established for a particular
project with the project team given access to update the status of tasks and add related
documents and spreadsheets. Its central location makes it easy to keep everyone
informed and up-to-date regardless of his or her home offi ce, location or time zone.
A wiki is more reliable than continually e-mailing updates back and forth to the team
members. It is faster than e-mail since updates are available instantly and more effi -
cient than e-mail since each team member does not have to maintain his or her own
copies. Managers like wikis because they can see what progress the team is making or
what issues it is facing without getting involved or raising concern (e.g., a new way
of doing of project management reporting).
For security reasons, corporations usually buy wiki software, rather than lease space
on the Internet, and set it up the wiki behind the company ’ s fi rewall as part of an
intranet or as an extranet if customers or vendors are allowed access. Also, corporations
look for wiki software that has authorization and password safeguards, roll-back ver-
sions for information to be restored to its former state, and easy upload capabilities
for documents and images. Some wikis notify users when new information is added,
an especially nice feature for corporate projects where fast responses are required.

Social Networking, Web 2.0, and KM 2.0
Social networking has rapidly become a part of everyday living and working, particu-
larly for the Y or millennial generation ( eMarketer 2008 ). As noted by Jones (2001 , 2),
“ knowledge management is inherently collaborative: thus a variety of collaboration
technologies can be used to support knowledge management practices. ” Social net-
works are dynamic people-to-people networks that represent relationships between
participants. A social network can serve to delimit or identify a community of practice
as it models the interaction between people. Wladawsky-Berger (2005 ) notes that
social networks are “ knowledge management done right ” (p. 1) as they address similar
goals to solve problems, increase effi ciency, and better achieve goals.