Banks and Wikipedia

With Wikipedia becoming one of the most sought after places where customers seek out answers, it is important for brands, banks in this case, to understand how they are portrayed on this collaborative encyclopedia. A cursory look at some of the world’s top banks (Entries are heavily skewed towards American brands at the moment) give you a glimpse of how some of the information posted on the site many not be to their liking. Citibank has entries on biased research, Enron and more. Wells Fargo has a section of recent controversies. The entry on Bank of America is flagged off for being confusing to some readers. While there is very little that banks can do to manage this conversation, it may be a good exercise for brand managers and agency planners to start understanding how information is becoming a part of this gigantic repository of knowledge.