Wetpaint
Encyclopedia
Wetpaint is a Seattle, Washington-based company, founded in 2005, that hosts both user-generated and professionally created content. Wetpaint began as a wiki farm
, hosting wiki
s using their own proprietary software. In 2010, the main site was rebranded as Wetpaint Entertainment, a website
focused on TV entertainment for the female 18-34 demographic. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint" and moved to an auxiliary site.
Over two million wikis have been created on Wetpaint.
to the list of investors. Wetpaint closed a Series C round of venture capital funding of USD25 million in May 2008. Investors included Accel Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures.
Wetpaint was a sponsor of Wikimania
2006. It was and named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2007.
In March 2008, Wetpaint added social networking features.
In 2009, Wetpaint won the WTIA Industry Achievement Award. In 2010 it was named in Lead411's Hottest Seattle Companies list.
In July 2009, Wetpaint laid off 15 of their 56 employees. An additional 9 employees, including co-founders Kevin Flaherty and Alex Berg, were laid off on December 4. The company also decided to refocus the website on professionally created content. Both steps were taken as a result of declining online ad revenue.
During late 2010, Wetpaint re-launched its main wetpaint.com homepage as The Wetpaint Entertainment platform, a set of new online TV fan destination sites. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint", and moved to the URL wetpaintcentral.com.
Notable Wetpaint partners have included Fox Entertainment Group
, HBO, Showtime, IGN
, NY Giants, Houston Rockets
, T-Mobile
, HTC, Oracle Corporation
, Hewlett-Packard
, Discovery Channel
, and Lucas Arts.
The highest rank of each wikis by Wetpaint site is its creator, who has full permissions over the wiki. Directly beneath the creator are the administrators, who can do everything a creator can do except demote the creator or other administrators. Registered users of a site may be promoted to writers or moderators at the discretion of the administrators.
Wiki farm
A wiki hosting service or wiki farm is a server or an array of servers that offer users tools to simplify the creation and development of individual, independent wikis...
, hosting wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
s using their own proprietary software. In 2010, the main site was rebranded as Wetpaint Entertainment, a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
focused on TV entertainment for the female 18-34 demographic. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint" and moved to an auxiliary site.
Over two million wikis have been created on Wetpaint.
Company history
Wetpaint and was originally named Wikisphere. Wetpaint was founded in October 2005 and also received its initial A round of venture capital funding of USD5.25 million from Trinity Ventures and Frazier Technology Ventures in October 2005. Wetpaint closed a USD9.5 million 'B' round of funding in January 2007, adding Accel PartnersAccel Partners
Accel Partners is a global venture and growth equity firm funding companies from inception through the growth stage.The firm is based in Palo Alto, California with major offices in Bangalore, Beijing, London, and Shanghai....
to the list of investors. Wetpaint closed a Series C round of venture capital funding of USD25 million in May 2008. Investors included Accel Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures.
Wetpaint was a sponsor of Wikimania
Wikimania
Wikimania is an annual international conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation...
2006. It was and named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2007.
In March 2008, Wetpaint added social networking features.
In 2009, Wetpaint won the WTIA Industry Achievement Award. In 2010 it was named in Lead411's Hottest Seattle Companies list.
In July 2009, Wetpaint laid off 15 of their 56 employees. An additional 9 employees, including co-founders Kevin Flaherty and Alex Berg, were laid off on December 4. The company also decided to refocus the website on professionally created content. Both steps were taken as a result of declining online ad revenue.
During late 2010, Wetpaint re-launched its main wetpaint.com homepage as The Wetpaint Entertainment platform, a set of new online TV fan destination sites. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint", and moved to the URL wetpaintcentral.com.
Notable Wetpaint partners have included Fox Entertainment Group
Fox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
, HBO, Showtime, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, NY Giants, Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
, T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, HTC, Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, and Lucas Arts.
Wiki farm permissioning
The "Wikis by Wetpaint" platform uses a simple permissions system to give various users different rights. Site administrators can set permissions levels for their entire site, individual pages, and individual users. For example, an administrator may restrict the editing of a page to registered users only; anonymous users who have not logged in and joined the site will not be able to edit the content.The highest rank of each wikis by Wetpaint site is its creator, who has full permissions over the wiki. Directly beneath the creator are the administrators, who can do everything a creator can do except demote the creator or other administrators. Registered users of a site may be promoted to writers or moderators at the discretion of the administrators.