Wikipedia is 5x more visited than Google News, Yahoo News and the BBC

Wikipedia is 5x more visited than Google News, Yahoo News and the BBC

A new and very popular Internet news resource has emerged, from an unusual source. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is now the number one choice for millions of web surfers who are looking for more in-depth analysis and background information about the latest news stories. Wikipedia attracted 22.3 percent of Internet users searching for information on the Gaza Strip when Israel withdrew its settlements in August. Five times more people went to Wikipedia than to Google News, Yahoo News and the BBC.

Wikipedia was started in 2001 and has quickly grown to contain almost 700,000 articles. Encyclopedia Britannica has just 80,000 references in comparison. Wikipedia can be edited in real time by anyone. Critics say this means some of the facts and statements on the site can be wrong. However, it is the community-based nature of its information posting policy that makes it successful. Its popularity is also because it has entries on almost anything, from the latest trends to up-to-the-minute coverage of Hurricane Katrina.