Good communication between employees is vital to all businesses, large or small. E-mail, unfortunately, often falls into the “bad communication” category. Tone is misinterpreted, context is lost and messages go missing.

That’s why today many companies are experimenting with internal wikis and private social networks to improve communication among their team members. Think of this as just an evolution of the corporate intranet.

By adopting the social features that have made online destinations like Wikipedia and Facebook successful, businesses can transform their stagnant, one-way intranet into a bustling expressway of shared thoughts, insights and collaboration.

Here are a few quick pointers for initiating a wiki project within your business:

• Start small. Choose a team within your organization to start using the wiki — not everyone at once.
• Develop a strategy to roll it out internally. (Hint: Don’t announce it via e-mail.)
• Give the wiki time to evolve. If users aren’t taken by it immediately, keeping pushing ahead, keep the faith and keep training.
• Determine what success is. Reduction of e-mail volume? Better communication? Knowing your goals ahead of time will allow you to justify the project later on.

If you’re ready to get started, there are multiple resources available, ranging from free, hosted services such as PBwiki, all the way to enterprise-level applications like SocialText. Good luck on starting up your wiki!

From time to time, clients ask us if we can help edit (or create) a Wikipedia article about their organization. The Official Lava Row Response is as follows: Never write/edit an article about yourself or your company, and never pay someone to do it for you.

We realize this answer can be frustrating to someone who understands the important benefits of getting referenced in Wikipedia. (Brand popularity, awareness, high traffic volume, etc.) The wiki regarding conflicts of interest sums it up best: “Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a forum for advertising or self-promotion.” Attempting to edit one’s own article can result in public embarassment and negative press for the organization, as members of the Wikipedia community are bulldogs at sniffing out self-serving edits.

This week, a new application called WikiScanner launched (created by CalTech grad student Virgil Griffith). WikiScanner gives everyone the ability to check exactly who is behind a Wikipedia edit. Remember, transparency is a good thing. It serves as a reminder to marketers and P.R. people (ourselves @ Lava Row included) that we ultimately do not control brand images — customers do.

This reinforces the need for every company to bust their asses in creating positive, meaningful relationships with their consumers, both online and offline. Letting the customer write your story shouldn’t be scary, as long as you’ve made them a happy customer.