HOW TO: Create Articles on Wikipedia (if you work in PR)

Wikpedia is one of the most referred to sources of information on the internet. Despite the content occasionally being of questionable veracity, clients often request that we create or edit articles about them or related topics.

If you have already read WHAT IS WIKIPEDIA, you will be aware that you can’t create or edit any article in which you may be perceived to have a vested interest. Fortunately there is a clear methodology laid out by Wikipedia about how you can request article creation and edits.

How long will this take me?

It shouldn’t take an awfully long amount of time, you’ll need to have drafted the material you wish to be added, locate an appropriate Wikipedia editor or WIKI project and create a request. Obviously creating an article from scratch will take longer than requesting alterations to a page that already exists.

What do I need to know first?

If you haven’t already then you should read the Wikipedia: Conflict of Interest, then you should read the article on Verifiability and Neutral Point of View which will help you to create an article of acceptable standards. 

How do I do this?

First stage is to create an account. You do this by clicking on create account in the top right corner of the main page.

Please use your name and Porter Novelli email address when creating the account. 

Once created you’ll see a page that looks like this:

Then click on your user name at the top right of the page and you’ll be invited to create a user page for your account. This bit is important as it’s where you will disclose your employment status with Porter Novelli and place any articles that you wish to be reviewed and added to Wikipedia.

So copy the following text to your user page.

== Disclosure ==

I am employed by [[Porter Novelli]], a global public relations network. 

I am aware of, and have read Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:COI | Conflict of Interest]] behavioural guidelines and the [[WP:SCOIC|Suggestions for COI compliance]] - and understand how these are ''particularly relevant to me''. I will do my best to adhere to these guidelines in the following ways:

* I will not post, or edit articles about past and current clients, their products or services

* I will not post, or edit articles about my clients' competitors, their products or services

* I will restrict requests for factual amendments to such pages to the relevant Talk pages where I will disclose my interest, and reference [[WP:SCOIC]] 

* In those cases where I make such Talk page requests, I will endeavour to supply references to [[Wikipedia:Reliable_sources | reliable sources]]

You can now turn your attention to drafting the article you wish to be added.

In order to be successful, it is important that the article is neutral, encyclopedic in tone and specifically that it avoids peacock language. It should also include at least two independent reliable sources. 

You should then copy the article to the discussion page of your user profile.

Now it’s time to seek out the most appropriate person or group of Wikipedians to check your article and do the actual creation.

The first is to find the appropriate WikiProject and then on its discussion page, create a new section and place your request.

Remember to use full disclosure of who you are, who you work for and you relationship to the client. Then create a link to the draft article on your discussion page and finally signing off with four tildes (~~~~), which will time and date stamp your request as well as providing another link to your user page.

Then you wait. You can add the RSS feed from the discussion page where you created your request to your RSS reader so that it anyone responds you are aware of it. Or you can check back frequently. 

Please be aware, and make your client aware, that some changes might be made by the person creating the new article and that it is entirely possibly that further changes will be made once it is up for the world to see, and edit. That is purpose and power of Wikipedia after all.

Changing existing articles

If a change is made that you feel to be incorrect, or there is an article about your client already that contains incorrect information then you need to go to the discussion page and make your case. Again remember to include independent sources to strengthen your case.

And that is basically it. It may take some time and it may not always work, it depends on how interesting and relevant the topic is to Wiki editors, so make sure you are careful to set expectation levels with your client.

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Comments

[Gregory Kohs]

How successful is this working out for Porter Novelli?

You say, "you will be aware that you can’t create or edit any article in which you may be perceived to have a vested interest".

Oh, really?

I have written about 12 articles published in Wikipedia, in exchange for payment. Three of the articles, I disclosed the provenance of the authorship. Two of those were deleted, and the other one was savaged by Jimmy Wales, but restored by the community, after a "trusted" admin plagiarized my original work.

The other 9 articles (which I never divulged their origin) are happily evolving within Wikipedia, still whistling a happy tune for YEARS after their creation.

The real lesson to be learned, which so few PR bloggers seem to "get" is this:

Everyone who edits Wikipedia has a conflict of interest.

Let me repeat that.

Everyone who edits Wikipedia has a conflict of interest.

If you are able to accept that fact, you may be ready for Lesson #2: Open disclosure on Wikipedia results in the transparent party being punished or damaged; secretive or anonymous activity results in the clandestine party being protected or rewarded.

Now, I could go on with Lessons #3 through #10, but I think I'm going to save it for a blog post of my own in the future.

[Kerry Gaffney]

Gregory, thanks for your comment.

You're right, everyone who edits wikipedia has a conflict of interest at some level, but you cannot deny that someone who is in the employ of a company probably has a higher vested interest than someone who is editing articles on their favourite television programme.

I can't agree that open disclosure leads to the transparent party being punished or damaged, we certainly haven't had that reaction and believe that by taking this approach we will never receive that reaction.

We know that as a PR agency we are held in a certain degree of suspicion whatever our actions and intentions are, as a publicly listed company we also have an obligation to meet certain ethical standards. This is why in all our training materials and training sessions for PN staff, we drum home that all our online activity, either on our own or our clients behalf, should be ethical and transparent, not just to avoid creating a blogstorm but because it is actually just the right thing to do.

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