About.com, which used to be called the Human Internet, is a network of sites on myriad topics that relies on paid human "Guides" to cover a specific topic by providing relevant content and building an online community related to their topic. Much of the content is original content written by the Guides, including articles, online courses, interactive quizzes, and so forth. There are currently about 500 topic-sites, divided into channels, from home repair to pediatrics, all of which are led by a guide (who acts as the editor).
Content
The topic-sites consist mostly of original content, with selected links to external content deemed to have good quality by the guides. There are also detailed articles or commentaries written by the guides on a set interval. Some sites have dictionary and how-to lessons. For example, the sites on major European languages have comprehensive lessons illustrated by audio files recorded by the guides themselves.
Each topic-site has at least one forum, provided at the Advanced level (with HTML capability and uploading) for registered users for all. Site visitors may subscribe to free email newsletters for each site. Some guides participate daily at the forum, and some offer a chat room.
History
About.com was originally founded as The Mining Company in 1997 by Scott Kurnit and a group of other entrepeneurs in New York City. The company changed its name to About, Inc. in 1999 and was acquired by PRIMEDIA in 2000 in a deal that valued About at $690 million. In February 2005, the New York Times Company announced that it was buying About.com, a purchase that was completed in the first half of the year for $410 million in cash. Google along with Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, and AOL were reportedly among the other bidders.
It eliminated over 50% of its topic-sites in 2002. Most of those sites are not merged, and information on those sites is no longer accessible to the general public.
In 2002 77 former and current About.com "Guides" filed a class-action suit in New York against Primedia. The complaint was that labour laws were violated and contracts breached. The case was still ongoing as of March 2005.
External links
Search Term: "About.com"
