Google project "knol"

[beu]

Google releases more information on project "knol"

"Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling "knol", which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project."

http://googleblog.blogspot.com

What do you think?

[AussieWebmaster]

Nice tease.... watch beta last a year

[beu]

I wonder how this will play out with Wikipedia, seems like it would be a better source for information.

[AussieWebmaster]

I know... I wrote about the project here.

The big thing is the bylines... writers love to see their names and if there are links involved it will be interesting to see how they impact the authors' websites!!!

[DONMAC]

Between Wiki and Knol, there's going to be some serious cross-linking going on.

[Dan01]

Seems Google has turned its eyes on the Wikipedia space and has a spin that may get a lot of attention from knowledgeable authors.

I was thinking it reminded my of Wikipedia. I have to admit, many times I turn to Wikipedia before Google. Too bad they can't just buy Wikipedia, but starting your own makes sense. I like the idea.

[Dan01]

Hey Aussie, I just saw this:

Google is clearly playing catch-up to both Wikipedia (regularly ranked one of the top 10 visited properties online) and Yahoo (which has a fairly extensive collection of original content). Knol could be a more attractive alternative to Wikipedia because of the financial incentive offered to contributors. By contrast, the only real incentive for Wikipedia editors is that they get the last word on a subject -- at least until the next edit.

So you will be able to generate some revenue from the work? Wow, what a gold mine. I wish I was an expert. But in a way I am - "ex" means I used to be, and "spurt" means for a very short time. So I am an exspurt.

[Dan01]

Aussie, I have been investigating this project since I saw the thread. I think this is bigger and potentially more valuable than g-mail. It could be a real money maker.

This is how I see it. It is like Blogger except set up differently. For instance, Blogger has all of the authors articles together, while Knol will have them all separated according to subject.

1) I wonder when they will open this up to everyone?

2) It sounds like they are arranging a database of records with fields in each record. I am curious to the names of each field.

3) I would expect the authors to be able to edit their articles after they are submitted, right?

Google gave us the Insomnia article as an example. In their Blog they suggest that anyone can create an article on any subject. You don't have to be an expert on that subject.

The articles in their database will be sorted according to some criteria, like popularity. Like they said, they are the experts on search. The experts of today may not be the top results next year, but it sure appears that the earlier an article is submitted the more chance of it being ranked highest.

[Dan01]

1) I wonder if the knol articles have to be exclusive to knol. In other words, we produce articles on various subjects all the time. Can we just transfer the articles to knol. Maybe we should edit them and re-write them - it just takes more time.

2) Do you think quantity will win out over quality - for revenue generation. Obviously, the best article (record in their database) will be top dog in their search results, but you can always edit your old record and make it better, right?

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I am excited about this. I think the potential is bigger than blogger and quite possibly bigger than a website.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

So how do you feel about this:

http://www.seobook.com/google-knol

Wondering, if I should bother doing SEO or simply create knols and then send traffic from them to my websites...

[Dan01]

There are a lot of links pointing to that backpacking page now. LOL

[jag]

Knol is going well now. Myself and few authors are working on knol promotion. You are all wecome for the knol promotion. We have several contest available in Knol. Check out suitable ones and participate

Good luck

[Abbey]

It is very interesting information. You have to work hard when you get very high traffic.

[jag]

Abbey, No link drops pls

AussieWebmaster, please take care of this

[meanne2007]

I am member of knol, it's another resources for articles.

[AussieWebmaster]

It is a Google variation of Wikipedia

[jag]

Aussie, Now its entirely different. I welcome to try something in KNOL