Seven Castles

Witkey

                                      

October 25, 2006

 

The term of "witkey" refers to websites providing online encyclopedia services. It is the latest fad in the world of Web 2.0 after blog, podcasting and RSS (really simple syndication). In China, witkey is still new, but is already making a splash in the Internet world. With only a year of development, the number of users has reached about 600,000, with a monthly surge of 30 percent. The figure is expected to hit 9 million in 2007.

 

Web-based witkey services help people save time by getting answers not easily found through search engines like Google. Through witkey, people can also ask strangers online with enough time on hand to focus on their projects. Of course, people who offer knowledge and time can reap rewards, both in cash and kind, depending on the websites.

 

Witkey websites are forums where people can post any question. Netizens will try to answer the questions based on their knowledge and experiences. A complete witkey system includes questions and quotations, search engine, database and payment sectors.

 

Service providers of popular Internet portals and search engines have already launched such kinds of services, including Sina's "I Ask", "Baidu Knows" and "Google Answers". Baidu, which provides free witkey service for now, has invited experts to answer questions regularly and it adds the Q&A's to its search database to make it more accurate and efficient. Besides the well-known giants, independent witkey websites have also emerged in China.

 

Witkey is a nice platform for buyers and sellers of time. The most popular deals are article-related, such as advertising copies or academic research. In contrast to visiting specialized institutions, it saves a lot of money for people to offer a reward on witkey websites. And that is why small and medium companies prefer the witkey websites.

 

The highly efficient mode might make huge impact on traditional services industries such as advertising, consulting and designing. People with spare time can take witkey as a part-time job. For college students, being witkey is something of social experience and also a source of income.

 

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2006年10月25日 星期三 06:57】【 加入博采】【打印】