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Google includes internet advertising in 'knols' to compete with Wikipedia
Search giant Google is launching a new user-generated reference site that will rival Wikipedia.
Known as 'knol' (derived from 'knowledge'), the service is being trialled now and allows individuals to create their own pages, and to benefit from Internet Advertising on them.
"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," the company said in a statement.
Google is very much placing an emphasis on authorship, adopting the premise that knowing who wrote what will allow users to make better use of web content.
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The company itself will not interfere with user contributions in any way, and notes that for many topics "there will likely be competing knolls on the same subject".
"At the discretion of the author, a knol may include ads," the statement continued. "If an author chooses to include ads, Google will provide the author with substantial revenue share from the proceeds of those ads."
Separately, Google is adding blogs as a search feature in its Universal Search service.
Have Your Say!
Will you write for the knols project and what are your thoughts on Google's new innovation?
Google News posted on 17 December 2007
