Wikipedia vs Google
The difference between Wikipedia and Google starts from the basic concept and the objective of each. To start our discussion on this subject, what do you do when you have to find out information about something that is not there in the books around you? Of course, you browse the internet. Even if the information is available in the book, the easiest way to get the latest information about anything under the Sun is the internet, and by default, it means Google. Google is the biggest search engine and there are other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, MSN,etc. Type your search item in the Google search box and, within the time you blink, you get thousands (well, Google claims millions of results) of results on your monitor. If you have paid attention, the website that appears at the top of the results is invariably Wikipedia, the unofficial encyclopedia of the net. You can choose to search any other site that Google proposes, but more often than not it is Wikipedia that is opened. With billions of searches every month, Wikipedia is certainly much ahead of any other site that is informative in nature. But how do you compare Wikipedia with Google?
Suppose, you want to look up the internet to find the latest information about a city where you are going to visit next month.For example, you type Sydney in Google and then, in less than a second, you will get many results on Sydney; obviously, Wikipedia tops the list of these results. Because of its popularity, there is a common perception among people around the world that the information contained in Wikipedia is definitive and authoritative. However, it is a fact that all the information it contains is contributed by the readers around the world and, though there are editors to verify the articles contributed by readers, it is is not accepted yet as reliable by academics. However, Wikipedia proudly claims that the information on its articles is correct.
What is Google?
Google is a search engine and looks for websites that have material relevant to your search, and the results are shown on your monitor. You simply have to go to www.google.com and type the word or words you want to search information in the Google search box. Then, you have to press enter or click the blue button at the right hand corner of the search box with the picture of a magnifying glass. Automatically, your screen will fill with websites that contain the words you put in the search box. Google just takes you to other sites; it has no control over the content. That means it only brings up the websites that contain the words you entered to the search box. Sometimes, every site may not contain the exact information you are searching for. So, you simply have to choose the site that offers the exact information you are searching for.
What is Wikipedia?
On the other hand, Wikipedia, though it is also a website, is more of an encyclopedia. In this respect, Wikipedia has gone past even the most trusted and respected encyclopedia, the Britannica. The information that you get from Wikipedia is pretty much their own and is edited and updated continuously. The URL of Wikipedia is www.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia offers articles about a lot of topics. These topics belong to a large number of fields such as medicine, engineering, literature, people, countries, etc. These articles are very helpful as they are very descriptive. Also, Wikipedia offers articles in multiple languages as well.
What is the difference between Wikipedia and Google?
• Google is a search engine while Wikipedia is a website that is a treasure house of information. Wikipedia is actually an online encyclopedia.
• Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Wikipedia was found by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.
• Wikipedia was founded in 2001 while Google was founded in 1998.
• Google tries to bring relevant information by indexing websites of the world, whereas Wikipedia provides information from its own articles.
• Though you use Google to get to Wikipedia, you can still get to it, if Google is down, using other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, etc.
• You get to Wikipedia using Google, but the converse is not true.
• Another point of differentiation is that Google just takes you to other sites; it has no control overthe content. On the contrary, the information that you get from Wikipedia is pretty much their own and is edited and updated continuously.
• Google has the ability to remove any website from its search, and technically it can remove Wikipedia also (though it appears in top results, always). Wikipedia is just another website for Google, the search engine.
Images Courtesy:
- Google logo 2013 via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
- Wikipedia main page by Sade (CC BY-SA 3.0)
