About Hitwise

Hitwise is the leader in online competitive intelligence. Contact Hitwise to maximize your online marketing programs.

Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

Analyst Weblog

« NZ Election: Prediction Markets, Policy Comparison and Flickr | Maximising Search During an Economic Downturn »

Innovation Review – Uptake of Knowledge Management Websites

September 12, 2008

Terry Cutler's Innovation Review was released in Australia this week, containing a "blueprint for a remodelling of Australia's innovation system". The report alludes to the value of collaboration to Australian productivity, in particular "the 'mass collaboration' that is being increasingly enabled through advances in internet and broadband technology".

There are certainly numerous websites that enable user collaboration. I thought I'd take a look at the uptake of websites that allow consumers (versus enterprises) to share their professional knowledge through document sharing. Here's how they tracked in Australia:

You'll see that Google Docs has maintained significant growth in the past year, increasing 213.7% in visits by Australian users comparing August 2007 and August 2008. Google's recently launched browser, Chrome, with its advancements in processing speeds is likely to help foster document sharing online.

Following Google Docs in share of visits was Scribd. While Google Docs attracted nearly double the share of visits to Scribd in August 2008, Scribd grew at a faster rate over the year, increasing 342.3% comparing August 2007 and August 2008. Scribd's information paradigm allows users to, "Publish to millions. Share with friends. Search billions of words". There is an interesting corollary in the travel agency industry where users are encouraged to, "Search, Compare, Book". Knowledge management websites should consider what action they enable consumers to complete, analogous to 'book'.

Education - Reference Websites Up 13.6% Year-on-Year in August 2008

Another indication that Australian users are increasingly turning to the Internet as a research tool is the strong growth in visits to the online Education - Reference industry:

While Wikipedia continues to dominate the Education - Reference industry with 25.42% share of visits in August 2008, websites that helped push growth in the category during the past year included, Yahoo! Answers (as well as the Australian version), WikiAnswers, and Google Scholar Australia.

Australian organisations, including publicly-owned resources such as libraries, should consider the information-sharing features of successful web 2.0 properties. Effective search engine optimisation, integration with web-based email, tagging and user-favourite lists are some examples that help enable consumer uptake.

What do you think are examples of consumer-led innovation online that can help bolster national productivity?

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 04:10 PM | (0) | (1)
In Categories Innovation