"Can social media save Wikipedia from itself?" a keynote by Sarah Stierch as given at Social Media Week Hamburg 2013

1. Can social media save
Wikipedia from itself?
A system bias influenced social media experience
Sarah Stierch - @sarah_stierch - Social Media Week Hamburg 2013 - #smw13

7. Can social media save
Wikipedia from itself?
here are a few facts

8. 9%
*
* Ranges from 9%-13% generally. I've even heard 23%. Regardless, it's depressing.

9. i'm too busy
overwhelming
WHY?
tried and failed
too complex
it's geeky & uncool

13. :(

14. >:(

16. Ladies <3 social media
● Bloggers
● Facebook users
● Pinteresters
● Instagramers
● Twitter

17. Wikipedia & social media
A few things to know:
● @Wikipedia
○ 82k followers
○ Not social
● Facebook
○ +1 million fans.
○ Not social
● Blog
○ Mainly male contributors
● None of these are used to attract new editors
● Open source means metrics challenges

18. WikiWomen's Collaborative
● Project inspired by women's
rights movement of 19th &
20th century
● Social media is where women
are
● Social media is free!
● Provide a space for women to
be themselves; interact with
& inspire each other, new
editors

19. Throw your hands up..

21. Phase 1
● October
● Focused on building likes &
followers
● Finding volunteers
● Writing content for social media
& blog
● Creating a space on meta & logo
● Promoting

26. Phase 2
● November-January
● Two main goals:
○ More new editors
○ Make project sustainable
■ More multilingual
■ WWC + WMF
● Ask a WikiWoman event
● Meta makeover
● New roles for volunteers

27. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomen's_Collaborative

28. #askawikiwoman

29. THIS WAS HARD

30. WikiWomen's Collaborative
● Hard to attract new editors
○ PR campaign?
● But, experienced editors like it!
○ Majority of Facebook users are editors
○ More new potentials on Twitter
● 500+ likes on Facebook!!
● 600+ on Twitter
● Lots of great blogs
● Small group of volunteers - more needed
○ Hard to crowdsource volunteers

31. WWC Survey
● Small sample (24)
● Majority active editors
● Majority felt:
○ WWC made them feel more connected to community
(women and general)
○ Participants more excited about mission
○ Participants more aware of gender gap & how to help
○ More like to edit Wikipedia & projects
● But did they?

32. YES!
WWC participants started editing more in
September.
WWC launched in September.

33. Mind the gap - reflections
● Social media has helped to
build a community of
women who might not
always communicate on
wiki
● Culture change can be
more powerful than tool
change.
● Women want to socialize
& create together
● Outreach does matter &
make a difference
● Not sure if the gap can be
closed anytime soon.

34. BE BOLD

36. Can social media save
Wikipedia from itself?
A system bias influenced social media experience
Thank you John & Christoph!
This entire presentation is:
Sarah Stierch - @sarah_stierch - Social Media Week Hamburg 2013 - #smw13