Helping Knol Survive - Is it Worthwhile?
Just posted the following to members of the Google Knol group at LinkedIn. I am one of three managers of the growing group.
Knol is receiving new criticism in key blogs. Latest: "Google Knol Goes Quiet Next to Hubpages and Squidoo ( http://webtrends.about.com/b/2009/10/30/google-knol-goes-quiet-next-to-hubpages-and-squidoo.htm )
As Knol once again spins its wheels on stalled author page views and Google Help repeats old behavior, failing to respond (for five days now) to queries about this and other issues, members of this group have reason to worry. Or do we? How can we help Knol survive and flourish with Knols like Peter's "Australia," Garry's "Canina" and thousands of other worthwhile units of knowledge. Does Google even want help? Twitter suggests YES, they value authors. But the lack of Help response suggests NO, once again Google is out of the building. Daniel Nations, the writer of the above referenced article at About.com (I have a standing offer to become an About "guide" but convicts in prison are paid more), says "If we are to learn anything from Google Knol, it is that Google likes to experiment, but they don't always hit home runs. Google Knol joins such high profile experiments as Orkut, a social network popular in Brazil that never caught on in the U.S., and Google Answers, which couldn't quite capture the popularity of Yahoo Answers. So while new technologies such as Google Voice, Google Wave and Google Maps Navigation catch a lot of web buzz, there is certainly no guarantee that they'll end up being a big hit with users." We know better in this group. Knol can be a big hit and that's why you joined this group. In my opinion, Knol needs a vaccine, an injection of Internet testosterone. Instead of letting Knol drift along passively, Google could take steps that would power purposeful navigation to the desired destination. Tell me, tell the group what those steps might be in your opinion. I'll start: 1. Purge Knols over 6 months old that have failed to achieve more than 2 stars. This includes Knols that have failed to achieve any stars. And, announce the action in Google's blog.
