Regardless of how reliable Web users deem Wikipedia, there is little doubt that it has grown into one of the more influential and referred-to sites on the Internet today. A recent report by comScore confirms this notion, indicating that the user-edited online encyclopedia was the ninth most popular Web site in the U.S. in the month of January.
During the first month of 2007, Wikipedia managed to bring in 42.9 million unique visitors. This was more than The New York Times, Apple, or Viacom International attracted. These three sites ranked 10, 11, and 12, respectively.
To put this into perspective, Wikipedia sites ranked 33rd in January of 2006 with 18.3 million unique visitors. Since then it has made a sure and steady climb to its present ninth spot.
The site began in January of 2001 with an English-language version, and has since grown into one of the top 10 Web properties globally. In all, there are over 5 million articles in more than 200 languages on the site.
The calculations for Wikipedia included visits to Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, and Wikinews, though a comScore spokesman indicated that most of the group’s traffic came from Wikipedia.
There has been mounting speculation concerning the financial waning of the site, which is currently funded solely through donations. Recent buzz has created exaggerated rumors that if something big doesn’t happen soon for the company in terms of funding, the online encyclopedia stands to die off in three to four months.
Wikipedia denies this, though they do confirm that there will be problems ahead if more money does not come flowing in.
An ad-supported model does seem logical for the non-profit company, despite the fact that a purported majority of users would find advertisements intrusive.
Wikipedia’s financial woes would seem to find their savior in the form of their soon-to-be search engine, Wikiasari, which is set to release sometime this year. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has already said that the human-influenced search engine would be based on an ad-supported model, and if it picks up enough steam to generate a significant revenue stream, money would cease to be a problem for any Wikimedia site.
The sooner Wikiasari is released, the sooner any worries about Wikipedia’s longevity can be put to rest.
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070217/tc_
infoworld/86173;_ylt=AqsZ_hL72.k3i0bSv.VtDpH6VbIF
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/02/12/
is-wikipedia-on-its-last-legs
http://digital-lifestyles.info/2007/02/12/
wikipedia-to-run-out-of-money/
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