With the launch of 140pedia, Twitter has officially taken over the world--well, at least its concise crowdsourced encyclopedias. 140pedia lets you define a term, word or meme using 140 characters or fewer.
For credit, each 140pedia submission must include the writer’s Twitter account. There’s a giant button to instantly tweet any given entry. The encyclopedia comes from the Internet-obsessed minds behind the ‘I Can Has Cheezburger’ enterprise, so there are links to LOLCats and Failpix aplenty.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Crowdsourced Encyclopedias
- Creating a crowdsourced, concise encyclopedia that allows for quick and easy contributions could be disruptive to traditional encyclopedia publications.
- Micro-definitions
- Breaking down complex terms into micro-definitions that can be easily shared on social media platforms could provide opportunities for content creation and education.
- Social Media Integration
- Incorporating social media integration into educational resources like encyclopedias could increase engagement and usage among younger audiences.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Education
- Educational institutions could use crowdsourced and socially integrated encyclopedias to create new resources for students.
- Publishing
- Traditional encyclopedia publishers could benefit from integrating social media and micro-definitions into their content to keep up with changing consumer behaviors.
- Social Media
- Social media platforms could leverage the popularity of micro-definitions to create new features and engage users in educational content.
