Helium: User-generated articles

It's an interesting thought as to what is the next big thing. Let's not worry about the days before the Internet. So starting with the 90's, the internet was largely a one-way street, with users gleaning content from the web. But blogs and photosharing sites changed this concept, giving users a chance to have their content pushed out to others. So what now? Emerge the idea of users being able to gain monetary incentives from

Enter PayPerPost.com and its business plan: bound to be a disruptive force in the blogosphere. For more on PayPerPost check out TechCrunch's Michael Arrington take on it.

But more interestingly, something akin to newspaper submissions in the physical world, Helium is a service that has users write articles on different topics. These articles are ranked with revenue-sharing determined by how well your article is received.

The model of user-submitted articles clearly evokes images of Wikipedia, but with ranking and more importantly potential payment. It's interesting to think about what this possibly means for the future of Wikipedia...

This looks to be a great site where expansive databases can be built around the separate categories. Wikipedia and WebMD beware!

~Ronald