Mequoda Library: Lizzie Babarczy

Contributing Editor
Lizzie Babarczy

Lizzie Babarczy is the Senior Marketing Manager at Hitwise UK.

Hitwise is the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

More information about Hitwise.

Reports by Lizzie Babarczy

Open-source Wikipedia zooms ahead of other reference websites
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is steadily exceeding the popularity of other commercial reference sites and encyclopedias. According to Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service, Wikipedia’s share of U.S. Internet visits placed it at number 13 in the Hitwise Education - Reference category at the beginning of 2004. However, by the week ending April 16, 2005, Wikipedia’s total Internet share of visits skyrocketed by 618 percent, making it the second most visited reference website overall.

“The Wikipedia phenomenon is similar to Linux, the open-source computer-server software that has been endorsed by several giant IT corporations and is storming proprietary versions,” said Bill Tancer, vice president of research, Hitwise. “It’s fascinating how a single portal, operated by a nonprofit foundation, can garner such grassroots enthusiasm and so many volunteer experts across such a wide variety of subjects.”

While Wikipedia is now the highest trafficked online encyclopedia, its traffic levels are just shy of Dictionary.com, the highest trafficked site in the Hitwise Education - Reference category for the week ending April 16, 2005. Following in the category are commercial sites such as About.com, Answers.com, Encarta, Merriam-Webster OnLine and Free Translation.

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