The Daily Poll: Is Google Knol a Wikipedia Killer?

The Daily Poll: Is Google Knol a Wikipedia Killer?

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In case you missed it, last night Google announced plans for Knol, their own user-generated encyclopedia of sorts that takes square aim at Wikipedia. Of the countless opinions out there, I think John Battelle probably puts it best: "Well, I guess Google's noticed too, and decided it wants to own the second click, as well as the first."

What did they notice? That Wikipedia pages dominate the top of search results, and are often the first item for a given query. In fact, estimates suggest that nearly 50% of Wikipedia's traffic comes from Google searches. Several months from now when Knol is up and running, it's not inconceivable to imagine pages from the project receiving prominent placement in Google search results and becoming a major threat to Wikipedia's traffic. That said, Wikipedia has established a strong brand, is often the first place people look for information on a given topic, and as most of us know, old habits die hard.

So, without further introduction, today's poll question:

{democracy:45}

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