Wikia, the for profit company founded by Jimmy Wales, the former “soft-core” adult content salesman and founder of Wikipedia, has launched three “new communities” based on entertainment, local and politics, in a move desribed by Wikia as being “designed to significantly enhance the ability of passionate people to collaborate online”…in laymens terms the new services are commercial niche topic based versions of Wikipedia, where Wikia can exploit free contributions for profit.
The new sites announced include:
The Entertainment Community which provides “T.V. and movie lovers with a place to create episode guides, movie and actor reviews, or blog about all-things Hollywood”
Your Local Community which features “individual sections for nearly every town in the United States–users can search for their town’s section using their zip code”.
The Politics Community which features “national, state and local sections where users are able to search and contribute by state and/or zip code.”
Everyone loves Wikipedia, but does Wikia really thing that they can use Wikipedia’s model and profit from the efforts of millions of people for free? It’s times like these I just want to channel Jason Calacanis for some thoughts, because he’s been right on the money all along with this sort of thing.
Originally posted on February 13, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
I like the wiki magazine concept Wikia have going, but they sure need to pay editors. Jimmy Wales should have lunch with Jason Calacanis for sure.