Wikipedia Foundation’s commercial spinoff Wikia is getting into the news reporting business, Founder Jimmy Wales said during a keynote conversation at SXSW Interactive here this morning.
Wales said ad-supported Wikia, which is now the world’s “16th most popular website,” has recruited 700 volunteers to report on its Fandom hub, which covers games, movies and TV content and experiences.
“Instead of just being an encyclopedia, we’re becoming a news source,” Wales said of Wikia’s new focus vs. Wikipedia’s encyclopedic approach to publishing....
it's intriguing that Wikipedia could become the next Buzzfeed or something comparable. But really, they could hugely use a redesign for better user-friendliness and UX. as it stands now, I appreciate the information, but I spend as little time on the site as I can because the UX is so terrible.