Craig Cmehil on the key to successful Web 2.0 use in business:

They are all looking for the silver bullet and there isn’t one. Blogs for one might not work for another. It’s matter of finding out first “Who is my audience” and how are they going to react, what are they going to be able to relate to and then once you start, start asking that all over again and do it often to ensure you are on the right track.

He explores this point in more detail on his blog, suggesting that choosing the right tools, and uses for those tools, needs to be done in a holistic way, like acupuncture:

Often times I hear “just start blogging”, what the conversations are supposed to flow automatically? This is where the idea behind acupuncture comes into play. Once I’ve determined my goal and chosen the “root” tools to use now it’s time to to observe and question. It’s time for you to sit back and determine the nature of the those you want to blog, what are their strong suits? Their weak ones? What style of blog? Should the blog but just a text one or should you employ rich media as well? Who should blog?

By asking these questions and looking closely at the whole one can determine the best and most appropriate path through the massiveness that is Web 2.0 and what it offers today. Blogging to Blog or using a wiki to say “we use a wiki” is like sticking a needle in my big toe - it might do something and it might not but it doesn’t mean it’s acupuncture!

The salient point here is that you need to give these tools careful thought. Wikis are different because they don’t have specific uses, and the accompanying rigid workflows.

And that’s their chief advantage.

People can find the best uses for a wiki, and it’s flexible enough to accommodate countless uses in just about any situation. That flexibility makes it infinitely useful, and the best uses emerge as you become familiar with the power of a wiki.

Related Posts:

• Dvorak’s Blogging Primer
• Two arguments against wiki use (and how to respond to them)
• Links: Wiki Revolution a New Curve on Information Highway, Microsoft Wiki, The Simplest Thing that Could Possibly Work, Seth Godin on marketers and money
• Featured in ReadWriteWeb Article on Wikis in Business
• “How do you grow wiki use?” presentation slides available online