WikiHow famously exploited the Wiki for commercial profit by making it friendly to use and adapting it to produce user guides. Jumpstarting by self-seeding the content, HowTo now claims nearly 14,000 HowTos and nearly 5 million page views. Revenue comes from Google Adsense. Koonji – founded by Sudhir Jha with personal and part-time resources - has ambitions to follow WikiHow’s example. Through the guidance of a wizard, Koonji allows users to create a plan, a “Koonji,” a series of steps for getting an activity involving online resources done, eg planning for a historic tour of Spain or shopping for an HDTV. Other users can then recommend additional links or add tips to evolve the shared plan. The wikiness is barely perceptible, and I’m sure Sudhir would be happy if wiki were never mentioned in relation to Koonji, but for the wonks it’s all about context so we must talk about that here.

Reaching further online is an optional toolbar that allows researchers to navigate koonjis, clip and annotate content, and access personal research. The software as research companion evokes NetSnippets and Microsoft OneNote on the client side or del.icio.us and Google Notebook on the server side but it is positioned specifically for dealing with an activity flow. (Sidenote: NetSnippets branched out with their expertise into the digital storage and art commerce with eSnips.)

And of course, subscribers can socially network. We should just start assuming that feature for every site we review and only point out the lack of social networking.

WikiHow has lapsed a bit into absurdity and entertainment, eg How to Write a Haiku Poem, but clearly there are useful plans for people seeking guidance, and hence practical value in these kinds of sites. Koonji’s open public collaboration for mutual benefit is the spirit of Wiki. But where Wiki focuses on facts and being encyclopedic, Koonji makes process the overarching frame for facts and links, and that is very a powerful marketing angle.

Where WikiHow is really descriptive with long passages and pictures, Koonji’s process as meta-information allows each step to be succinct pointers to information elsewhere, eg where to buy a cake or book a hotel. The recommended stores and sites in the “Planning a Birthday Party” Koonji are pretty basic but also very useful. The paucity of tips for each Koonji and the number of Koonji probably reflects a dearth of funding and manpower at this early startup. If they could build up the content, this site could join the successful ranks of WikiHow and About. I’m guessing they will collect google Adsense revenue with additional affiliate income from sellers of high ticket items like electronics.

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