Since about its 4th year of existence, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) has sent out an end-of-year message to their top data contributors. Contributors are defined as individuals who do not work for the company, but who voluntarily provide information (synopsis, summary, trivia, etc.) about the many people and films listed among the pages of the online service. I have yet to become a “top” contributor (or eve close to being one), but I do my part to add to the plethora of details one can find on IMDb.
Every year IMDB welcomes a new record number of data contributions, and its founder & CEO, Col Needham likes to recognize that fact (they literally could not do it without the fan base). In addition to writing a heartfelt "thank you" to the mega fans of the number one movie website in the world, he also takes the opportunity to draw attention to some of the site’s achievements across each given year. From new features to technology upgrades, IMDb wants its millions of world-wide monthly visitors to know what’s happening to make their IMDb visit as optimal as possible.
The table at the end of every yearly message shows the number of approved (?), non-duplicate data items which the Top 250 have contributed in a year, including corrections and deletions. Hundreds of thousands of people contribute. As contribution volumes increase and the database becomes more complete, the site endeavors to make significant reductions in the time between submission and publication (it use to take weeks, if not months). The goal is to expand to weekend and international teams.
By the way, the minimum number of items required to be in the top 250 contributors is in the thousands. That’s a heck of a lot of daily dedication from non-paid contributors. I couldn’t do it. Could you? I'd say a hearty thank you is definitely in order. Thank goodness for social media mega fans. Without them some companies simply couldn't exist.