Amazon launched ProductWikis in April 2006, allowing customers to write their own articles, or wikis, on any product page. The Amazon wikis resemble user-generated content popularized by Wikipedia.org, a free online encyclopedia. The feature was renamed Amapedia in 2007.
The concept behind wikis is that anyone can write one, and that anyone else can come along later and correct mistakes. It's unclear how useful wikis will be for Amazon shoppers--will shoppers want to read miscellaneous writings by other shoppers, or care enough to correct mistakes?
Wikis are supposed to differ from book reviews and other user-generated content in one important way: Writers are supposed to stick to facts, and avoid injecting their opinions.
What could hurt the utility of wikis is their misuse by spammers. And there's nothing to prevent competing authors or publishers from adding false information. Wikis are supposed to be self-correcting, but experience shows this doesn't always happen.