Knol

I’m sure you all have heard that Google unleashed the Beta version of Knol. Knol is Google’s response to Wikipedia. Google is going to try and compete with Wikipedia by paying subject matter experts to post encyclopedia-like reports. Payment will come from % share of ad clicks. Google is attempting to validate the credibility through payment and having others both rate, review and comment on the submissions.

I think I know why this is happening.

Tell me if you think I’m wrong, but it’s almost as though entering a Google search has gotten to the point at which a searcher is expecting one of the top 5 return hits to include a wikipedia link. Meaning, when you enter a search term, such as “labia”, you are inherently expecting a number of returns to pop, with a wikipedia link to be a grounding return. This way, amongst the 12B+ searchable web pages, the wikipedia return link operates as the normal, routine, trusted response amongst those other awkward links…(libiaplasty?). I have become conditioned to expect this, to see Wikipedia in the top searches.

Google pulling or diminishing the ranking of return would be obvious. And what’s happened is that Google has become almost a linked gateway to the true information beyond. It’s getting that way for YouTube as well. Put in any search term on Google and I’m waiting for wikipedia and YouTube within the top 5.

Thus, Google, as well as the other 2 search providers become weakened as the gateway to information. They become the gateway to Wikipedia and YouTube.