Wikipedia, the peer-produced online encyclopedia is a popular way for people to gain information about companies and business people. But it does not always please the latter.

Klaus Kleinfeld, the former chief executive of Siemens, described his reaction to the growing influence of Wikipedia concisely at a Davos breakfast this morning: “Scary. Absolutely scary”.

The thing that intimidated him most was that “the person who was editing my site [The page devoted to Mr Kleinfeld in the German language Wikipedia] was a 15-year-old schoolkid in Germany.”

Mr Kleinfeld left Siemens after the company was engulfed in a bribery scandal and is now president of Alcoa. He had a tussle over his Wikipedia entry, which at one point included an unfounded suggestion that he and his wife were separating.

Siemens’ public relations department corrected the entry but there was controversy over whether it should have done so. The incident ended with Mr Kleinfeld’s entry being suspended.

Companies often have a prickly relationship with the mainstream media and complain that newspapers and magazines are irresponsible and sensationalist. But the rise of blogs and social media scares them more because they often have no idea how to influence grassroots commentary.

But they are going to have to get used to it. That was one of the main findings of a study by Edelman, the public relations group, which organised the breakfast.

Edelman’s survey of 3,100 college-educated people with a household income in the top quartile dug up findings that may give companies some pause, although they are trusted more than governments.

It found that Americans aged 25 to 34 in the sample named Wikipedia as the second most credible source for business information, after business magazines.

January 23rd, 2008 in Davos08 | Permalink