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By now, everyone has heard of, if not read, the book Wikinomics. Oh you haven’t? What planet have you been on? Hello? Social media? Web 2.0? Ring a bell?

For those of you that have been listening you might know by now there is a follow-up book in the works (behind schedule is more like it). Dan Tapscott and Anthony Williams are calling it ‘Wikinomics Playbook’. You guessed it, it is being authored Wiki-style. It only made sense for them to take advantage of the very medium they successfully brought to the forefront of conversation. Okay, they shouldn’t get all the credit but deservedly are acknowledged leaders in the conversation.

What I found interesting in this process was that they may have made a significant contribution without yet knowing the impact. I call it ‘Rule Number 5′. If you go to the web site where they originally laid out the premise of the new book and rules for participation. You will find the following rule set for collaborators…

There are only 5 actual rules on Wikinomics, the rest are just guidelines.

1. Don’t infringe copyright. Contribute only copyright-free material.
2. Respect other community members. Just follow the golden rule.
3. Wikinomics uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License 2.5e (CC-BY-NC-SA). Everything you contribute must be compatible with that license.
4. Expect that anyone may edit anything.
5. Acknowledge the ultimate authority of the Wikinomics primary authors: Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams.

As I regularly discuss the social wiki model with customers, I have recognized a single misconception that is almost always shared by everyone, “what if we don’t like the outcome, can we change it?” Web 2.0 requires courage. And some will say that if you are not willing to totally expose yourself you should not participate. However, reality is that in boardrooms across America business leaders are trying to limit exposure while taking advantage of the new model.

Enter ‘Rule Number 5′… Sure, come join in the conversation, participate, collaborate, contribute… but at the end of the day ‘Rule Number 5′! Acknowledge the ultimate authority of the primary authors! Fair enough?

It’s one thing to engage everyday consumers in the process, it’s another to engage those who make their income from intellectual property (authors, publishers, artists, etc.). So how do we control it? Rule Number 5.

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