With the breadth, depth and trustworthiness to warrant billions of pageviews monthly, Wikipedia is a cause célèbre in the techy community. It began with fits and starts, but has since blossomed to become a place where anyone at any time can settle (almost) any bet.
Tracing the meteoric rise of Wikipedia over its first 10 years was a privilege bestowed upon JESS3 Labs, who worked with Jimmy Wales and the Wikimedia Foundation to produce The State of Wikipedia.
On January 17 we released both a YouTube version and Vimeo version of the video, and JESS3’s PR team immediately went to work promoting the video to journalists, bloggers and social media users. Using our micro-targeting techniques, we first focused on tech writers who had already written about the coming anniversary. Within the first few hours after releasing The State of Wikipedia, TechCrunch — arguably one of the most influential blogs covering the tech sphere — had embedded it and covered it.
Not long afterward, Mashable — the most widely read social media blog — had written about it as well. Combined, the TechCrunch and Mashable posts alone generated over 2,000 retweets and 500 Facebook shares. ReadWriteWeb also covered the video.
After this initial success we began fanning out and pitching other communities. We successfully pitched dozens of design, advertising and animation blogs, getting hitafter hit after hit. We then moved into the long tail, pitching smaller blogs and Wikipedia enthusiasts who had influential audiences. We secured too many hits to mention in this case study, but here are some examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
We then moved to more general interest geek blogs. We secured a hit on BoingBoing, one of the most popular independent blogs on the planet. We also earned coverage on Laughing Squid and Neatorama.
Within a few days the video had begun to spread outside the network we had pitched. It received hundreds of blog hits, thousands of retweets, and thousands of Facebook shares. The YouTube video received over 130,000 views and the Vimeo version received over 60,000 views. It was one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube that week and received dozens of YouTube traffic awards.
To hire JESS3 for PR services, contact Director of PR Simon Owens at [email protected].
With the breadth, depth and trustworthiness to warrant billions of pageviews monthly, Wikipedia is a cause célèbre in the techy community. It began with fits and starts, but has since blossomed to become a place where anyone at any time can settle (almost) any bet.
Tracing the meteoric rise of Wikipedia over its first 10 years was a privilege bestowed upon JESS3 Labs, who worked with Jimmy Wales and the Wikimedia Foundation to produce The State of Wikipedia.
On January 17 we released both a YouTube version and Vimeo version of the video, and JESS3’s PR team immediately went to work promoting the video to journalists, bloggers and social media users. Using our micro-targeting techniques, we first focused on tech writers who had already written about the coming anniversary. Within the first few hours after releasing The State of Wikipedia, TechCrunch — arguably one of the most influential blogs covering the tech sphere — had embedded it and covered it.
Not long afterward, Mashable — the most widely read social media blog — had written about it as well. Combined, the TechCrunch and Mashable posts alone generated over 2,000 retweets and 500 Facebook shares. ReadWriteWeb also covered the video.
After this initial success we began fanning out and pitching other communities. We successfully pitched dozens of design, advertising and animation blogs, getting hitafter hit after hit. We then moved into the long tail, pitching smaller blogs and Wikipedia enthusiasts who had influential audiences. We secured too many hits to mention in this case study, but here are some examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
We then moved to more general interest geek blogs. We secured a hit on BoingBoing, one of the most popular independent blogs on the planet. We also earned coverage on Laughing Squid and Neatorama.
Within a few days the video had begun to spread outside the network we had pitched. It received hundreds of blog hits, thousands of retweets, and thousands of Facebook shares. The YouTube video received over 130,000 views and the Vimeo version received over 60,000 views. It was one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube that week and received dozens of YouTube traffic awards.
To hire JESS3 for PR services, contact Director of PR Simon Owens at [email protected].
So what do you get a site that literally has everything for its 10th birthday? How about video “Fireworks”? (to borrow a phrase from TechCrunch commenter Sarwat Jamaluddin). What about a video that not only creates visual fireworks, but also helps tell your story — one that has multiple layers and is often not discussed?
And that’s what we did. In a collaborative effort to capture a historic moment in time for Wikipedia, we announced this morning “The State of Wikipedia,” a digital short aimed at teaching the layperson Wikipedia’s initial concept and consequent evolution into becoming one of the most visited web sites across the globe.
And what better person to tell the story than the man behind Wikipedia than Jimbo himself?
While loyal readers of this blog know well the circumstances in which Wikipedia was created, including its explosive early growth, the establishment of the Wikimedia Foundation and the project’s reliance on volunteers, we can’t ignore the truth that most people only know to visit Wikipedia if they need a quick and reliable digest on any given topic.
Launching alongside Wikipedia’s 10-year anniversary, the JESS3 team has produced a video that is a foundation to not only educate but also to spur the conversation around the future of Wikipedia.
JESS3 graciously worked closely with the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikipedia community to produce “The State of Wikipedia” (the fourth installment in the “State of” series, which includes The State of the Internet, The State of Cloud Computing and The Future of Revenue).
After months of collaboration and the magical elements of production, we are now excited to be launching this piece of art and quite frankly, what we hope will become a time capsule as the future of the platform, community and articles continues to unfold.
When we originally began talking about the upcoming anniversary with longtime colleague + best bud William Beutler, best known for his authorship of The Wikipedian since early 2009 and as user:WWB to the community, it only made sense to collaborate directly with him as an Executive Producer for this digital short.
We look forward to see what the next 10 years hold for Wikipedia and how it will continue to help add contours, diversity and permanency to information the world over.
Note that The State of Wikipedia is a project released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). The puzzle globe logo is a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. This project received 100% of its funding from JESS3 and did not take any outside payment from the Wikimedia Foundation or others.
Written by:
Leslie Bradshaw | President & Co-founder of JESS3
Becca Colbaugh | VP of Client Services & Production of JESS3
What do you love about Wikipedia? What does its future hold?
]]>So what do you get a site that literally has everything for its 10th birthday? How about video “Fireworks”? (to borrow a phrase from TechCrunch commenter Sarwat Jamaluddin). What about a video that not only creates visual fireworks, but also helps tell your story — one that has multiple layers and is often not discussed?
And that’s what we did. In a collaborative effort to capture a historic moment in time for Wikipedia, we announced this morning “The State of Wikipedia,” a digital short aimed at teaching the layperson Wikipedia’s initial concept and consequent evolution into becoming one of the most visited web sites across the globe.
And what better person to tell the story than the man behind Wikipedia than Jimbo himself?
While loyal readers of this blog know well the circumstances in which Wikipedia was created, including its explosive early growth, the establishment of the Wikimedia Foundation and the project’s reliance on volunteers, we can’t ignore the truth that most people only know to visit Wikipedia if they need a quick and reliable digest on any given topic.
Launching alongside Wikipedia’s 10-year anniversary, the JESS3 team has produced a video that is a foundation to not only educate but also to spur the conversation around the future of Wikipedia.
JESS3 graciously worked closely with the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikipedia community to produce “The State of Wikipedia” (the fourth installment in the “State of” series, which includes The State of the Internet, The State of Cloud Computing and The Future of Revenue).
After months of collaboration and the magical elements of production, we are now excited to be launching this piece of art and quite frankly, what we hope will become a time capsule as the future of the platform, community and articles continues to unfold.
When we originally began talking about the upcoming anniversary with longtime colleague + best bud William Beutler, best known for his authorship of The Wikipedian since early 2009 and as user:WWB to the community, it only made sense to collaborate directly with him as an Executive Producer for this digital short.
We look forward to see what the next 10 years hold for Wikipedia and how it will continue to help add contours, diversity and permanency to information the world over.
Note that The State of Wikipedia is a project released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). The puzzle globe logo is a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. This project received 100% of its funding from JESS3 and did not take any outside payment from the Wikimedia Foundation or others.
Written by:
Leslie Bradshaw | President & Co-founder of JESS3
Becca Colbaugh | VP of Client Services & Production of JESS3
What do you love about Wikipedia? What does its future hold?
]]>
Send an email to Becca Colbaugh, JESS3’s Vice President of Client Services & Production and author of this post, at [email protected].
Note that The State of Wikipedia is a project released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). The puzzle globe logo is a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation.
]]>Send an email to Becca Colbaugh, JESS3’s Vice President of Client Services & Production and author of this post, at [email protected].
Note that The State of Wikipedia is a project released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). The puzzle globe logo is a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation.
]]>