Wikipedia: The Webipedia That Could

Despite being one of seven major online encyclopedias that aimed to facilitate millennials' growing need for easily accessible information, Wikipedia is the lone reference source in the world's seven most visited sites. Interpedia, The Distributed Encyclopedia, Everything 2, h2g2, The Info Network, Nupedia, and GNUpedia were founded pre-Wikipedia's 2001 start date, and each site has since run its course. This would suggest that Wikipedia's business model has implemented unique features, and methods of operation that have contributed to its prevalence in the midst of a failing online mega encyclopedia genre. In my research project, I aim to undress Wikipedia's business model and analyze the specific features that have not only protected the company from failure, but propelled it into becoming millennials' go-to reference source. The process of finding relevant materials to support my project would entail sifting through research based articles on the growth of the information age and articles focused on Wikipedia's points of success and failure with features such as allowing users to edit content.