Google's Knol: Diversifying your online presence

You may have heard of Google’s new product Knol, which is being billed as a competitor to Wikipedia. It has been around for some time in a closed beta, but this week was opened to the public. One would basically use Knol in the same way one would Wikipedia – by creating and editing entries on just about any topic under the sun – but Knol gives more ownership of the entry to the initial creator than does Wikipedia.

So when I created an entry on business research yesterday (Business Research: What it is, and where to find it), I also created an account that gives the Hill Library’s information as the content creator. Will this give the Library any additional authority in the eyes of people looking for business research online? Who knows.

Could your business use Knol to display specific industry knowledge? Absolutely. Especially for niche operations, this seems like a great way to spread content across the Web. There’s even been some speculation that Google will display Knol results above Wikipedia results in its search engine. That seems like a dastardly practice, but is something to keep in mind.  

For another (better than ours) example of a small business-focused Knol, check out The Size of the Small Business Market, by Anita Campbell of SmallBizTrends.com.

Drop us a line if you write a Knol yourself, and help us out with ours by leaving comments and suggestions on the site.