Wikipedia started in 2001 when Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger got together to talk about the idea of making an encyclopedie available on the Internet. Today, it has more than 20 million pages, written collaboratively and entirely by volunteers around the world.
What makes Wikipedia different is that anyone can change the content of any Wikipedia page as long as they have Internet access. To keep it as updated as possible, there are more than 90,000 regularly active contributors/editors.
To accomodate as many people as they can, Wikipedia is translated into 282 languages and has become the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet. Wikipedia ranks 6th among all visited websites (behind Facebook, Google, etc.). It's estimated that Wikipedia is visited 2.7 Billion times per month, from United States residents alone.
Wikipedia is not immune to criticism. Critics say it has systemic bias, inconsistencies, and favors consensus over credentials. Reliability and accuracy are also questioned because of possible vandalism and addition of information that goes unchecked.
Overall, studies into the accuracy and reliability of Wikipedia, such as the ones conducted by Nature, revealed a level of precision that closely rivaled the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Whether you use Wikipedia or not, it's become a resource that can't be ignored, whether for business, research, or proving facts to a friend. A number like 2.7 Billion attracts a lot of attention.
