Wikipedia improves online status
Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, has added more than 20 million unique monthly visitors over the past year, making it the top destination for news and information, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
During May 2007, Wikipedia enjoyed 46.8 million unique visitors, a 72 per cent increase from June 2006. It has been ranked as the most popular news and information site every month so far this year.
The site is the best known example of an online social media technology known as a ‘wiki’. This means that users generate their own content, which is then checked for errors by one of the thousands of editors and administrators that the website employs.
"It’s the seminal collaborative online resource, said Max Kalehoff, marketing vice president of Nielsen BuzzMetrics. "It’s like a living amoeba. It’s constantly growing."
The Net Ratings report indicated that Apple’s much-hyped iPhone, April’s shootings at Virginia Tech in the US, the July 7th 2005 London Bombings and the 2004 Indian ocean earthquake and tsunami were among the top traffic drivers to the site from paid search and natural search engines.
