| 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) |
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.
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]
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]
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]
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Annie Rauwerda is an American internet personality, journalist, and comedian known for Depths of Wikipedia, a group of social media accounts that highlight facts from Wikipedia. Rauwerda hosts Wikipedia-focused variety and comedy shows based on the accounts. Rauwerda was named the 2022 Media Contributor of the Year by the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia.
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