English edit

Etymology edit

From Web +‎ maven.

Noun edit

webmaven (plural webmavens)

  1. An expert on a topic who provides advice via the World Wide Web.
    • 1998 July 25, Kim Conner, “Genealogists digging roots on Internet”, in The Leaf-Chronicle, volume 189, number 206, Clarksville, Tenn., page B3:
      Compiled by webmaven Cyndi Howells of Puyallup, Wash., Cyndi’s List is easily navigated.
    • 1997 February 27, Joyce Lain Kennedy, “Careers: Online Advice for Gay and Lesbian Job-Seekers”, in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ken., page 7:
      Gay Workplace Issues (www.nyu.edu/pages/sls/gaywork) is maintained at New York University by Webmaven Sharon Silverstein.
    • 1999 May 13, Mark Terenzi, “Caught up on the Web: Information available to residents”, in The Courier-News, page 1:
      The brains behind the site is web[-]maven Carrie Cioppi, who started it way back in April 1996.
    • 2000, Sixth International Conference on Seismic Zonation: Managing Earthquake Risk in the 21st Century, November 12-15, 2000, Palm Springs, California: Abstracts, page x:
      Xena van de Walle, Webmaven and Database Manager, who handled pre- and on-site registration;
    • 2006, Alistair Davidson, Jonathan Copulsky, “Managing webmavens: Relationships with sophisticated customers via the internet can transform marketing and speed innovation”, in Strategy and Leadership, volume 34, number 3, pages 14–22:
      A new player has emerged to influence the buying behavior of customers – the webmaven. Marketers and product developers must take in account that webmavens now have a huge potential audience for their reviews of products and services.
    • 2011, Jonathan R. Copulsky, “A Brand New Day: Valuable Brands, Fragile Brands”, in Brand Resilience: Managing Risk and Recovery in a High-Speed World, Palgrave Macmillan, part one (Why Your Brand Is at More Risk than You Think in a High-Speed World), page 21:
      While comments from webmavens can provide product managers with fresh intelligence on the failures and successes that customers are experiencing with their offerings, the bad news is that the negative feedback from just one or two influential webmavens can have dire results for a brand’s reputation.
    • 2011, Lawrence Block, The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries, volume two, Orion Books, →ISBN:
      Here’s a book for MAGGIE GRIFFIN – great reader, great friend, webmaven, consigliere, and good right hand