This happened on December 5, 2012. In Berlin, the landscape of digital education has changed a little, if only for one day. wissen.de just didn’t win. It swept the board. The portal was chosen as “Website of the Year 2012” in the education sector. Not just once. Twice.
Won the “Best” website title. Winner of the “Most Popular” Website Award.
This is not a backroom deal. This is a public vote. In the weeks leading up to November 2, 2012, the German people had their say. They valued quality. They cast ballots. The votes were counted. The winners have been announced. The hardest part here is keeping up with the hype. A big thank you to everyone who clicked, voted and believed in the platform.
Defeating the giants of education
This news is great news for the editorial staff of wissen.de. As the leading intellectual portal of the German-speaking world, this victory marks a complete overhaul. In March 2012, we renewed our website and started a new beginning. From a clean table.
To compete? Fierce.
To get the top spot, wissen.de had to go toe-to-toe with heavyweights. Consider the following list.
- Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education)
- leo.org (the massive dictionary community)
- Der Bildungsserver (Education Server)
A total of 10 websites competed for this title. wissen.de beat them all. It won a double honor for having the highest quality rating and the most popular votes.
Understand the voting mechanism
How does the public vote work in practice when there are 10 candidates? This isn’t just clickbait. The “Website of the Year” award is Germany’s largest annual public selection in this field. MetrixLab is an independent online market research company that has been run this since 2004.
The mechanism is specific. Separate signal from noise.
There are two different winners in each category.
- “Best” site: This refers to the website with the highest quality rating. It’s all about user satisfaction. Content quality. Usability.
- “Most Popular” Sites: This goes to the site with the sheer volume of votes. It’s about reach. Brand awareness.
And then there’s the overall winner. The website with the best relative evaluation in its category wins the title of “Website of the Year”.
wissen.de excel in both metrics. Appreciated for its quality. It has high sales and is very popular.
Why is this important? It signals a shift in the way users consume information. They’re not just looking for raw data. They look for reliable sources of information. It is an easy source to use. It seems like a reliable source of information. wissen.de proved it could deliver that.
The reward is a snapshot. A moment in time. validates the March 2012 relaunch. However, maintenance is another story. Winning is easy. Keeping the trust? This is real work.
The votes are in. The trophies are shiny. What happens next?
