At some point in your life, chances are you've probably heard this ubiquitous phrase: "out with the old, in with the new." And as time would have it, newspapers and magazines have been faced with the choice of either phasing out or adjusting to the wider audience found digitally. Coming with this influx of new media, however, redundancy has seemingly run rampant with similar, if not nearly identical, forms of communication trying to stand out amongst a herd of sheep. 
With that in mind, two forms of new media at the forefront of discussion are blogs and wikis. Before we delve into the aforementioned similarities, it may be of use to denote their distinctions from one another. Generally speaking, wikis are regarded as the user-generated encyclopedias in which anyone can contribute to a page written about anything. On the other hand, blogs tend to have a reputation of something a bit more personal; that is, they are entries written through the experiences of certain individuals upon which their audience can comment and respond to the blogger's subsequent posts. In the same vein, unlike wikis, which can quite literally have a page for everything, blogs often lean towards a particular theme laid out by the author, whether it be one's lifestyle, baking recipes, fashion, etc.

Now, while these distinguishing characteristics may place them in differing subcategories under a common blanket topic, similarities do in fact exist. Despite both being founded upon user contributions, a commonly known enemy to both is censorship. Within the realm of wikis, this restraint can be seen by the appointment of trusted individuals to "approve public edits before they're published to English-language stories about living people" and the fact that "Wikipedia in the past has frozen some of its pages about people or events that have become sensitive."(Sutter, 1) The limiting on user contributions on a user contribution based site certainly doesn't ring far off from the censoring on blogs as well. In fact, even though blogs are specific towards the blogger's own personal experiences, "[o]ver the years, blogs have been censored or shut down, and several years ago the Army instituted requirements that bloggers register with their commanding officers and submit posts for review." (Dao, 3).  Similarities and differences aside, both forms of new media play an important role in convergence in today's networked world. Closing in on the gaps of time and distance, blogs and wikis allow people from all walks of life to come together for some common purpose, and as stated by Jimmy Wales (head and face of a wiki-based project), "we are from different parts of the world." (Cohen, 3) This convergence helps encourage a much wider discussion with various perspectives on an assortment of issues that may not otherwise have been raised.
Convergence in new media can also happen on a more local scale with results just as beneficial. In particular, blogs can foster community relations; that is, a more engaged group online with due diligence offline for the betterment of their neighborhood. Case in point being the Brooklyn blog that helped lead to a drug raid, largely in part due to the vigilance of neighbors who posted play-by-plays of happenings near the epicenter. (Wilson, 3-4) 
Personally, I believe convergence can also occur within wikis in ways that have yet to be ventured into. Namely, the systematic detailing of vehicular auto parts (as one example) by users with knowledge in the field. This comprehensive wiki can then be utilized by local police in investigations. To elaborate, I recall a recent case in which a fatal hit-and-run occurred and the only piece of evidence at the scene of the crime was an old car part that a user on Reddit was able to identify (exact brand and year). Thus, having all of this information collaboratively put together may be of use.

References:

1. Cohen, Noam. "Wikipedia Looks Hard at Its Culture", NY Times, Aug 31, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/media/31link.html
2. Dao, James. "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog", NY Times, September 8, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/us/09milblogs.html?ref=politics
3. Sutter, John D. "Wikipedia: No longer the Wild West?", CNN, August 26, 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/26/wikipedia.editors/index.html
4. Wilson, Michael. "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid", NY Times, June 26, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html