State of Wikipedia report for January 2024
January’s Chaos Metric sits at 48, a single point down (or three percent) from December. This is normal, as December is typically one of the quietest periods of the year on Wikipedia.
December saw a particularly low number of new pages created – but the number is not as odd as it may appear, given the generally decreased amount of activity on the platform.
COI-related discussions saw an increase to more-familiar levels in December, after hitting a particularly low rate in November.
What should we all expect from Wikipedia in 2024? Given Wikipedia’s continued prominence in emerging technologies – especially AI – 2024 is going to be a year of functionality and scrutiny for Wikipedia, as we head into both an election year, and what appears to be another major year of change for the platform itself (from a dark mode, to a new auto-save function and many others, this extends to under-the-hood improvements).
However, what remains unchanged are the platform’s five pillars; and navigating those in an election year will require even more patience and adaptability than ever. The heightened state of society in a presidential election cycle always finds its way to Wikipedia; from larger debates around smaller edits, to higher rates of vandalism on even vaguely politically-related pages, it’s always a busy time on the platform.
It’s why offense and defense are so important on Wikipedia, to be able to respond quick to negative changes, and to implement and defend positive ones. Changes happen fast on Wikipedia, too fast for context and nuance to keep up; The Mather Group helps bridge that gap with constant surveillance and the ability to interact with high-level editors from a knowledgeable position whenever needed – which, during election years, can be unexpectedly frequent.
The Mather Group is a Capitol Communicator sponsor.
