(From the day-late news department.) VentureBeat says in reporting an investment by Amazon in Wikia, “It’s not clear how much traction Wikia company has gained.”
Here’s a little history. Despite the hype of Wikipedia, the Internet Movie Database is — at least at the philosophical level — the community-built encyclopedic resource (started first in 1990 as a resource for a movie listserv) that has provided — at least at the inspirational level — a role model for all that which has come since: including wikis and Wikipedia and Wikia. I’m not referring to wiki technology and its read-write approaches, which are a nuance that only perhaps 1% of Internet users will ever understand. I’m referring to the “let’s all combine what we know and hyperlink the heck out of it so all this random information starts making sense in different ways” approach that IMDb has inspired.)
So why do I bring up IMDb? On April 28, 1998, Amazon acquired it. At the time, Jeff Bezos said, “Ever since I first visited IMDb’s site, I’ve been simply amazed by the quality and depth of their content.”
It may not be clear to Venture Beat how much traction Wikia has, but I trust Bezos on this one. One more note: Amazon (you remember, the whole “reviews” thing they started) is powered by “social media.”
Technorati Tags: amazon.com, wikia, wiki, wikipedia
This whole blogging thing is getting easier and easier for me today. Not only can David Shaw discover something I would almost certainly blog about, he even knows exactly what I would say. Amazing.
This out-source blogging is awesome. If you have a blog and you’ve posted something that people who read this blog may be interested in, add a link to it to the comments on this post. If you don’t have a blog and you want to link to something, feel free. (Note: To prevent spam, I will moderate the comments from those who’ve never posted here before so your comment may not show up instantly.)
Glancing out my window, I now predict there is a 100% chance of light snow in Nashville right now. Nothing major — flurries and a little dusting. However, I totally missed the multi-day build-up typically associated with such weather phenomena here in Nashville. Usually such a dusting of snow would be preceded by a run on milk and bread at area grocery stores. According to Snowbird, no area schools have closed.
I’m taking the lazy way out on this one by simply pointing and saying “ditto” to my reactions (positive and negative) about the announcement of new conference called “tools of change for publishing.” Short version: Change is good. Hubris is bad. Knowledge is good. Spending thousands to attend another conference is bad (at least for the check-writer).
Sidenote: There is an unconference idea here begging to be hatched.
Mitch Joel says it’s attitude, not age, that influences ones comfort with and adoption of social media. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or stumbles across this blog for whatever reason, I agree.
Quote:
“I’ve seen one thing in all of these new marketing channels, it is how simple, fun and accessible they are. You don’t need a biophysics degree to get hooked on Google Reader or tripped out on LinkedIn. You do need a passion and desire to grow and a wanting to understand how people are connecting in a fully-connected online world.”
I do believe there are correlations between ones age and ones preferences or tastes. But I also have a dog who is eight years old and he is easily taught new tricks.
For me, this is a big issue. Indeed, I’m getting to the point where I think this may become a cause with me. I guess that’s a warning that you can expect a lot more posts in the coming months in which I try to explain why old people shouldn’t feel guilty about not instantly comprehending and adopting any new Internet thing that comes along. And by old, I mean anyone over 16.
Technorati Tags: social media
Is the prediction that by June, 2007, one-million Zunes will be sold sort of like the prediction that by 2006, there will be no more spam?
(via: PaidContent.org)
