Britannica’s social media play

By on April 22nd, 2008 In Social Media

If you think Encyclopedia Britannica is to Wikipedia what moleskin notebooks are to blogs, prepare for some changes in the landscape. Britannica has embraced widgets, got a Twitter feed, RSS, and is now introducing WebShare –basically free access to content for bloggers and editors. It’s still in a soft launch mode.

Why free, when everyone else is paying ($ 69.95) for the privilege? They say they want to give a blogger’s readers “background” to what he/she writes about. And no, the service is not aimed at A-list bloggers –those with low traffic qualify. Meaning, I suppose, that EB has realized the value of social media and has moved past the Wikipedia vs Britannica debate.

If you’re a content manager for your agency, give it a shot. Register here. I had a problem with the page, but one email to them and they fixed it.

(Interestingly the demo for WebShare has a familiar voice –I am willing to bet it belongs to Shel Holtz.)

Comments

Shel Holtz Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 am

It does, indeed, Angelo. I blogged about my involvement with Britannica Webshare here:
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/comments/webshare_weekend_britannica_initiative_gets_boost_from_techcrunch/

Britannica could reposition Wikipedia « Says:
June 12th, 2008 at 1:38 am

[...] tracking wiki development for years, using wikis, and writing about them (here and more recently here), and always wondered why a third player hasn’t emerged. Wikipedia rules the roost, warts and [...]

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