the 10th anniversary of the launch of Wikipedia. To honour the ever changing online font of knowledge, we tell you the top 10 facts about one of the world’s most popular websites.
1. Articles
There are a massive 17 million articles on Wikipedia, with the number increasing every day.
2. Languages
There are 262 different language versions of the website, although the English, German and French versions have the most articles.
3. English
Of the 17 million articles, 3.5 million of them are written in the English language.
4. Record breaker
On 9 September 2007, the English version of Wikipedia surpassed two million articles. It made it the largest encyclopaedia ever put together and took the record from the Yongle encyclopaedia, which had held it for 600 years.
5. Readership
Wikipedia claims to have roughly 325 million readers, meaning there are 21 users to every article on the website.
6. Edits
There have to date been over one billion edits on Wikipedia, again with the number growing all the time – and being positively encouraged by founder Jimmy Wales.
7. Wiki
The word “wiki” is the Hawain word for “quick” but now has its own definition as “a web application that allows anyone visiting a website to edit content on it.”
8. Person becomes people
In 2006 the users of Wikipedia who edited the site were named as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
9.It would take 16 years and 9 months to read entire English Wikipedia.
If you start reading English Wikipedia today and you read at the speed of 300 words/minute, without taking any break or sleep. It would take approximately 17 years to complete entire English Wikipedia
10. Google gives it a hit
Many of us may go straight to Wikiepdia.org. however,50 percent of the website’s traffic actually comes from Google.
