It seems to be that searching the web is getting stranger and stranger. Oh, not because of the various sites you might run across, but because Wikipedia is now taking over the world as the most prestigious and informative site....


Go ahead, type in marketing, or finance, or philosoply, cooking, or even Buddah and you'll find wikipedia comes up on the first page (often in the number 1 position) on a Google search.
At a time when I'm not allowing my students to use Wikipedia as a reference for anything (they always use it as a cheap way to get serious information), it's also making me wonder about the use of any search engine that will rank Wikipedia high. (After all, if the search engine is reference-link based or keyword-based -- as Google is -- how can you compete?)
Ok...they say this is for the good because, well, it's the wisdom of crowds. (Although I question the wisdom of the people who vote to always pick the best politicians!) But I'm not convinced.
Are you as troubled as I?


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss is MarketingProfs founder and CEO, positioning consultant, and emeritus professor of marketing. Over the years he has worked with companies such as Texas Instruments, Informix, Vanafi, and EMI Music Distribution to help them position their products defensively in a competitive environment. He is also the founder of Insight4Peace and the former director of Mindful USC.