Wiki Founder May Take on Facebook

Jimmy Wales' new project combines networking, search
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2007 9:13 AM CST
Wiki Founder May Take on Facebook
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, answers a question during an interview with the Associated Press Friday, June 29, 2007, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Wrestler Chris Benoit's page on Wikipedia was updated about 14 hours before authorities found Benoit's wife and son murdered in their home. The reason he...   (Associated Press)

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is apparently going after Facebook and Google in the social-networking arena, Wired reports. Wales showed slides of his upcoming project during a speech in South Africa, and a tech blogger on hand described it as a "search/social networking hybrid" that incorporates elements of both internet powerhouses.

"It's not a healthy thing that power is in the hands of a couple of companies," Wales said. "The information needs to be out there in the public," he added, a nod to the Wikipedia philosophy. A screen shot of Wales' new project showed that the pages look more like Facebook profiles than Google search pages. No word yet on when it rolls out. (More Wikipedia stories.)

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