Depths of Wikipedia is a group of social media accounts dedicated to highlighting facts from Wikipedia. Created on Instagram by Annie Rauwerda in 2020, the account shares excerpts from various Wikipedia articles on a number of topics.
| Depths of Wikipedia | |
|---|---|
 The account's logo, featuring the Wikipedia logo with a crown on top | |
| Instagram information | |
| Page | |
| Created by | Annie Rauwerda |
| Followers | 1.3 million (December 2023) |
Creation
Annie Rauwerda, a then-neuroscience major at the University of Michigan,[1][2][3] created the Depths of Wikipedia Instagram account in April 2020 as a personal project at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,[4] intending to share various facts from the English Wikipedia[1] among friends.[4] According to Rauwerda, the project was inspired by a collage of excerpts from Wikipedia she had made for a friend's zine,[2] and by a photograph from the Wikipedia article on cow tipping.[2] She had been interested in Wikipedia before beginning the project, having spent time reading it as a child[1] and Wikiracing with friends through middle and high school.[5]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 The Joy of Learning Random Things on Wikipedia, Annie Rauwerda, TED Talk, October 19, 2023 |
Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway brought Depths of Wikipedia its first wave of followers, by boosting the page's posts on her Instagram story. Calloway had previously criticized the account for a post featuring an older version of her Wikipedia page, which listed her occupation as "nothing." Calloway's promotion of the Depths of Wikipedia account came following an apology by Rauwerda.[4][5]
After her Instagram account gained followers, Rauwerda created TikTok and Twitter accounts of the same name,[4] and launched a newsletter covering unusual Wikipedia pages in greater detail.[5]
Activity
Depths of Wikipedia has highlighted articles on topics including exploding trousers, Nuclear Gandhi,[1] chess on a really big board, and sexually active popes.[6] According to Rauwerda, she often receives submissions of Wikipedia articles to feature, but is selective in choosing which to post.[4] In October 2021, she said she was getting "probably 30 to 50 user submissions per day."[5]
A Wikipedia editor herself,[1] Rauwerda has hosted an edit-a-thon, welcoming new contributions to the encyclopedia,[2] and enjoys taking photos to add to the Wikimedia Commons.[7] She also hosts live comedy shows based on trivia from Wikipedia.[5][4][8][9]
Reception
Followers of the Depths of Wikipedia account include Neil Gaiman, John Mayer, Troye Sivan, Olivia Wilde and Lex Fridman.[10][6][11] According to Heather Woods, a professor of rhetoric and technology at Kansas State University, Depths of Wikipedia "makes the internet feel smaller" by "offering attractive—or sometimes hilariously unattractive—entry points to internet culture".[4] Zachary McCune, the brand director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which funds and hosts Wikipedia, called the account "a place where Wikipedia comes to life, like an after-hours tour of the best of Wikipedia".[4] Rauwerda was named the 2022 Media Contributor of the Year at the annual Wikimedian of the Year awards.[12]
References
Further reading
- Koerner, Chris (December 7, 2021). "From the Depths of Wikipedia: an interview with Wikimedian and influencer Annie Rauwerda". Diff. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
External links
