Collaboratively edited information on social media that circumvents traditional media
gatekeepers poses a challenge to public relations practitioners. The online encyclopedia
Wikipedia gives corporate critics the opportunity to shape the public image of major
corporations. This longitudinal panel study analyzed the framing of 10 Fortune 500
companies on Wikipedia between 2006 and 2010. It was found through content analyses
of tonality and topics of more than 3,800 sentences in the articles for Wal-Mart, Exxon
Mobil, General Motors, Ford, General Electric, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Citigroup, AIG,
and IBM that the negativity increased over time and that the focus shifted from historical
information to legal concerns and scandals. The findings show that public relations
practitioners need to pay close attention to the forced transparency about their companies
on Wikipedia
