Wikipedia editors have moved “industry analysts” under the general category “financial analysts”, as part of a move to reduce the number of useful “analyst” categories. This places “industry analyst” in the same bucket with accident analysts, accounting analysts, business analysts, cost analysts, software analysts, sell-side analysts and systems analysts.

The result is an interesting mix of influentials, from Dan Scotto, Barton Biggs and Mary Meeker to Rob Enderle and Gideon Gartner. Most of the articles are about financial analysts. On one level, it’s a taste of the Wikipedia collective psyche. Look at who’s listed, who’s missing, and how people are characterized.

On another level, this collection of biographies is a good reminder of the enormous differences between financial analysts and IT industry analysts.

One of the top ten Google results for “industry analyst” is a Wikipedia page. The Wikipedia entry is something that you’ll want to watch, if you’re an analyst or an analyst relations professional. Per Steve Rubel’s background on AdAge, “This is your brand, this is your brand on Wikipedia …” Or in this case, your brand and your profession on Wikipedia…

I added quite a bit of content to the Industry Analyst page, which you can un-do, of course. My adds include a section on “integrity and transparency issues”, in keeping with my interpretation of Wikipedia neutrality (both sides of the story).

If you want to contribute to the industry analyst or analyst relations pages, here are the direct links: Industry analyst, analyst relations. Plus there’s another page containing a mixed list of research/advisory/consulting companies.