The Pew Internet & American Life Project came out with a report yesterday that focuses on Wikipedia use. (Link to page and PDF report) Some impressive results:
More than a third of American adult internet users (36%) consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia, according to a new nationwide survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And on a typical day in the winter of 2007, 8% of online Americans consulted Wikipedia.
Interesting that these numbers are only in response to the specific question, “Do you ever use the internet to look for information on Wikipedia?” It does not seem to count folks that stumble across Wikipedia unwittingly through Google searches, without explicitly “consulting” Wikipedia.
As for the complete set of numbers:
Pew’s chart shows this means Wikipedia is clearly a multi-billion dollar brand with a juicy demographic.
Wow! Over 60% of adult Americans use some other means besides the internet to look for information on Wikipedia.
Interesting. But the question is: do those readers contribute as well?
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We need to make wikipedia less expensive. It seems like poor people are more likely to use Britannica.
/Clueless punditry
“It does not seem to count folks that stumble across Wikipedia unwittingly through Google searches, without explicitly “consulting†Wikipedia.”
A valid point, but if you just happen to stumble across it, you may not really recall that the site you visited was wikipedia.