Knol

For other uses, see Knol (disambiguation).
Knol
A knol on knee surgery
Type of site
Reference
DissolvedOctober 1, 2012 (2012-10-01)
OwnerGoogle
Created byGoogle
URLknol.google.com (offline)
CommercialYes
RegistrationYes
LaunchedJuly 23, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-07-23)
Current statusClosed

Knol was a Google project that aimed to include user-written articles on a range of topics. The lower-case term knol, which Google defined as a "unit of knowledge",[1] referred to an article in the project. Knol was often viewed as a rival to Wikipedia.[2][3][4]

The project was led by Udi Manber, a Google vice president of engineering.[5] It was announced on December 13, 2007, and was opened in beta version on July 23, 2008,[6] with a few hundred articles, mostly in the health and medical field.[5][2]

Knol did not find a significant audience and became viewed as a failure.[3][4] The project was closed on April 30, 2012, and all content was deleted after October 1, 2012.[7][8][4] The Internet Archive has snapshots of Knol archived between July 2008 and May 2012.[9]

  1. ^ Monaghan, Angela (2007-12-14). "Google's 'knol' may challenge Wikipedia". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nyt-july was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference sarvary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Kincaid, Jason (2011-11-22). "Google Announces Plans To Shutter Knol, Friend Connect, Wave, And More". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  5. ^ a b Levy, Steven (2008-07-23). "Google Throws Open Rival for Wikipedia — Anon Authors Discouraged". Wired News. Archived from the original on 2008-07-26. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  6. ^ Mills, Ellis (2008-07-23). "Google's Wikipedia rival, Knol, goes public". CNET News. Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  7. ^ "15 amazing Google projects that failed". Rediff. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  8. ^ Watson, Frank (2011-11-23). "Google Shutting Down Knol & 6 More Failed Products". Search Engine Watch. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  9. ^ knol.google.com/k on the Internet Archive