• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 26, 2007

The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia has become one of the most popular sites on the Web, according to a report issued this week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Eight percent of American Web users visited Wikipedia during a typical day this winter -- a higher proportion than those who made an online purchase, visited a dating site or chat room during a typical day, according to Pew.

Wikipedia was especially popular with users who were young, affluent and educated, according to Pew, which surveyed 1,492 Internet users earlier this year. Fifty percent of respondents who had graduated from college said they had used Wikipedia, compared to 22% who only had high school diplomas. Forty-two percent of those with household incomes of more than $75,000 used the online encyclopedia, compared to 32% with household incomes of less than $30,000. And 44% percent of those 18-29 had used the site, versus 26% of those 65 and older.

Separately, The New York Times reported this week that the site logged more than 750,000 visits to the article about the shootings on April 16-17, according to the foundation that runs it. The Roanoke Times went so far as to characterize the site a "clearinghouse for detailed information on the event," according to the New York Times.

As happened with other crises, like the tsunami in late 2004, a tragedy sparked intense reliance on the site. What's more, despite the obvious potential for anarchy at Wikipedia, the information there proved useful and accurate.

Still, while Wikipedia relies on collective input from citizen editors, their task is to aggregate information that's been reported or originally produced by others. In other words, Wikipedia isn't replacing the professionals; it's just quickly and efficiently harnessing their work.