SOPA debate looks set to rage despite blackout protests
On Wednesday several major websites, including Wikipedia and Reddit, took their services offline in protest at the proposed SOPA bill.
For Wikipedia, the self-imposed blackout actually had the affect of increasing traffic as people logged on to see what the fuss was about.
In a nutshell, SOPA is an attempt to crackdown on internet piracy by shutting down sites that host copyrighted material.
Opponents say that it goes too far, as sites that link to other sites that host pirated material can also be shutdown, and threatens free speech.
A Wikipedia page for SEO? Not always
About six months ago I was trying to figure out how to get a client past Wikipedia for the term 'spread betting'.
Most people know that taking on Wikipedia for rank can be difficult because the website carries so much topic authority and a lot of people link to it. So much so that Wikipedia’s authority can trump a very popular, useful website.
In fact, one of the main rules of SEO is get a page on Wikipedia. This shows a level of Authority because you are significant enough to be listed.
Wikipedia is getting a makeover. Will readers notice?
Wikipedia has spent a long time defending itself against more established reference materials, but now the user-generated encyclopedia is having the opposite problem. If enough random people aren't contributing content to the site, it could lose relevance.
The company is hoping that a new redesign will help encourage people to take an active role creating and editing its content. But will readers notice?
Wikipedia is losing editors. Is free user generated content dying?
Wikipedia may be the fifth-most-popular website in the world, but most of those viewers come to look without adding or changing any of the content on the site. And if viewers stop contributing content, Wikipedia will cease to survive.
According to the Wall Street Journal, that's not so far fetched. Wikipedia is currently hemorrhaging article editors. If Wikipedia can't get people to contribute to its voluble entries, is it possible for free user generated content to survive?
Adding Wikipedia to the reputation monitoring mix
With the rise of social media, it's no surprise that online reputation monitoring has been a growth market. Knowing what consumers and customers are saying about you on the internet is extremely important.
Generally, sites like Twitter and Facebook get the most attention when it comes to reputation monitoring but there's another site that may be even more important for brands to keep an eye on: Wikipedia.
Wikia and Jimmy Wales shutter Wikia Search
Can search be crowdsourced? It's a question that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, set out to answer when his for-profit company Wikia launched Wikia Search.
Wikia Search, which we reviewed here on the Econsultancy blog when it launched, tried to give users the ability to edit search results in much the same fashion that users can edit pages on Wikipedia.
Q&A: Ian Grant of Encyclopaedia Britannica UK
Ian Grant is the MD of Britannica UK, responsible for the EMEA regions. I've been talking to Ian about how EB has adapted to the internet, the threat from Wikipedia, and its plans for the future...
Does the internet need another answers website?
If you have a question that you just can't seem to find the answer to (or are too busy or lazy to do research), the internet has plenty of websites that make it easy to enlist the help of others to answer it.
From established players to Yahoo! Answers to Answers.com to young hopefuls like Mahalo Answers, it's safe to say that the Q&A space is not exactly underserved.
Best of both worlds? The age of the hybrid content model
Last week, we reported on Encyclopaedia Britannica's pending changes to Britannica.com that would enable users to contribute content to the Britannica's online entries.
The move was clearly designed to take a page out of the book of the user-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which has come to dominate the online market.
Wikipedia has 97% of the online encyclopedia market
Online collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia has a massive 97% share of internet visits among the top five reference websites, highlighting the amount of work that rivals like Britannica.com have to catch up.
Britannica.com announced some new Wikipedia-style community features last week as it attempts to make up some of the ground lost to Wikipedia. According to stats from Hitwise, it currently has just 0.57% of US internet visits to the encyclopedia category.
