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 | This page in a nutshell: It is possible for xkcd examples in "popular culture" sections to be useful, informative and helpful in understanding a subject, but be sure that the subject was impacted by the reference rather than just mentioned in it. |
The popular webcomic xkcd is famed for its Internet-savvy plots and references to obscure science and cult fiction. As a result, people often take subjects which xkcd has covered, run off to Wikipedia and add "xkcd covered this" to sections called "In popular culture" or "External links" or the like.
Most of the time, this is not actually helpful. Popular webcomics do affect popular culture, but not every time they mention a particular subject. A reference to a strip needs to cited by a reliable source and this source needs to show its relevance to the subject.
The best way to treat "in popular culture" sections of articles is to use them to cover examples which have actually influenced the way that a significant part of the public looks at the subject. Simply adding in a time that a subject is mentioned in your favourite TV show or comic gives undue weight to the fact and leads to these sections quickly becoming unmanageable cruft that would be far better placed on a more appropriate site, such as TV Tropes.