Wiki Hits The Spot At Google
One huge acquisition that went largely unnoticed this year was Google’s purchase of JotSpot, a wiki application started in 2004 by Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer, the guys who gave us Excite years ago. The acquisition went unnoticed because it happened within weeks of Google’s widely publicized acquisition of YouTube.
The acquisition of JotSpot, however, is a significant development in the history of the World Wide Web, and not just for Google or JotSpot. It’s a big development for everyone. Just as big a development as the purchase of YouTube.
One of JotSpot’s customers is eBay, the e-commerce giant known for its auctions. So JotSpot is not just some street corner kid. But why would Google get involved in wiki technology in the first place? The answer may lie in a little graph that can be found at Google Trends.
As you can see, the number of searches for the keyword “wiki” (blue) has been increasing while the number of searches for “web hosting” (red) has been steady or declining. In fact, for the past two years, since the founding of JotSpot, the number of searches for wiki has been going up quite rapidly. eBay started its wiki in January 2006 and Wired News gave editing power to news readers in September 2006 by introducing wiki technology to its website. Then, in November 2006, Google joined the wiki revolution.
The hottest thing in 2006, as everyone knows, has been blogging. But check out this Google Trends comparison of wiki against blogging:
As you can see, wiki (blue> has kept pace and blogging (red) is starting to see a decline while wiki is still climbing. Could that mean something?
The obvious meaning is that searchers are taking an increasing interest in wiki technology and that, of course, is evidenced by the number of wiki websites that have emerged since the technology’s debut in 1994. No doubt, the most popular wiki of all, Wikipedia, and its popularity has contributed to the surge of interest in wiki. But could that be all?
Other search terms wiki is beating at the search engines include SEO, link, article, web design, marketing, search engine and Bebo, the No. 1 search in 2006. But, wait a minute. How could that be?
For one thing, Google Trends is not a 100% measure of popularity. It is based on limited search results and Google admits that they “make certain approximations” when computing the results. Still, the graphs are a little bit telling. Interestingly, wiki doesn’t come close to MySpace, the No. 2 search term in 2006, according to Google Trends. Nevertheless, wiki is growing in popularity.
The reason is perhaps due to its collaborative nature. The Internet has always been a democratic media. Wikipedia makes it more so. Besides, it is easy to use. A website editor doesn’t have to learn HTML in order to make changes or alterations and, with the widespread use of CSS, XML, ASP, PHP and Java, HTML is all but obsolete anyway. Unlike those other languages, however, wiki allows information junkies the ability to collaborate on building websites without sacrificing too much time or money. As small businesses get in on the action, this benefit will be more and more pertinent in years to come. Now are you starting to see why Google is interested in wiki technology?
While the acquisition of JotSpot may have gone unnoticed last month, don’t look for the new member of the Google family to stay in the background for long. JotSpot will rise to the surface of tools for small businesses to use because of its affordability, ease of use and the ability to build collaborative enterprises among small players who are dying to knock the corporate big boys off their hills.
ASM Development can help you with all your SEO & Web Design needs
SEO Blog
Recent Entries
- Why A Search Engine Googopoly Is Bad For The Internet
- Blogging For The Sake Of Blogging Is Not Blogging
- How To Create An Effective Social Marketing Tweet
- Internal Linking – Don’t Be Afraid Of The Long Tail
- Adding Your Scotland Based Local Business To AOL
- Don’t Be Too Quick To Dismiss Google Buzz
- Are Guest Posts A Bad Link Building Strategy?
- Can You Overdo SEO?
- Review Sites And SEO For Scotland Local Businesses
- What Effect Will HTML5 Have On Web Design And SEO