The line in the interview that got me is where Jimmy Wales says:
"I was recently on a panel with the head of USAToday.com. He said they have 300 million pageviews a month. I said that's good; we have 400 million. Then he said he had 180 people on staff. I said I have one part-time person who helps me with the servers. There's something new going on here. It's not about broadcast, it's about interaction."
You can do the mental math.
What is the value proposition that Wikipedia brings to the table?
How about volunteer interaction? A passion for goodness?
This is also confirmed by Jimmy later:
"But really, the vast majority of changes on Wikipedia are made from a hard-core group of users. It's not a Darwinian phenomenon of millions of people, but rather a community of people. That core group is in constant communication, via IRC, and on the Web itself - they're always talking, in 40 languages, about the articles. That's how the site gets corrected so fast. People notice the change and very quickly communicate it through the community. The tight-knit group of users makes all the difference."
The Bold was added for my emphasis.
That is a group I would be proud to be part of.
Very much like my running buddies with the Norfolk County Pacers.
Individually driven.
United by a common cause.
Mutual supportive!
Why can't all aspects of life be this way?
Thanks to Mark Hurst for the link. I will be attending in the Good Experience Live coming up in New York on April 28-29. Jimmy will be one of the many speakers. If you have the opportunity to attend, I would recommend it.
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