Helium Fills the Air With User-Generated Content
User-generated content floats all around us now, of course. At lunch today, I looked over my Washington Post sports section to see a half-page in an excellent but shrinking sports section devoted to a “rewind” of an online chat between columnist and ABC/ESPN sports personality Michael Wilbon and some enthusiastic readers.
A site called BACKSTAGE unscripted has 20 or so lesser-known but successful actors blogging about their daily plays and auditions. If you’re looking to read about the alternative to a 9-5 job, this is the place. At almost all Websites now, comments are encouraged. Stroll through BusinessWeek.com and land on cybersecurity blogs that inspire daily missives.
As for SIPA members, EB Practice has posted written testimonials that cycle continuously through its homepage and had sponsored video testimonials a few months back. Gantthead.com has separate sections for “blog postings” and “recent questions” that draw a lot of traffic.
And then, of course, there’s Helium, “the world’s largest writing community,” according to its founder and president, Mark Ranalli, a keynote speaker at the recent SIPA 2010 Conference. Ranalli has created an entire site built around user-generated content. But his users are writers, often by profession. (He calls Comments on articles, forums and blogs “revenge of the amateur.”)
“The audience out there now expects to participate,” he said, “but you need to maintain your reputation for quality.” Ranalli has developed a reading algorithm system that helps Helium develop and identify quality. It’s a co-op philosophy where the best work gets compensated. “Our top earner last year made $5,000,” Ranalli said. “So it’s getting to be some decent grocery money.”
At SIPA 2010, he spoke about readers wanting and expecting fresh daily content. “Competition always drives quality. The amount of [content originators] will force all of us to rethink the value we bring to our readers.” At Helium, writers write, readers read and rate, information gets shared and the best and most popular writers get paid. It’s quite a concept. Writers build portfolios and reputations; professionals can apply for certification.
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“We tap into the intelligence and talent that exists out there,” Ranalli said. So far, the site has brought in more than two million articles and attracts more than 9 million readers each month. The site makes money through ads and by selling its best-rated content. It’s kind of like istock photo for newsletters. “Competition always drives quality,” Ranalli said. “It will force all of us to rethink the value we all bring to our readers.”
For example, on the business site of Helium are articles about “Starting a house-cleaning business,” “Strategies for small business owners dealing with the recession,” “How to make a good home page” and “The pros and cons of flexible hours in the workplace.” Helium’s subjects range from entertainment to education, from health and fitness to pets and animals.
“We’re not asking writers to write for SEO,” Ranalli said. He believes that if the articles are written well and prove useful, readers will find them.
So while The Washington Post, Business Week and SIPA members try to figure out how to get the best quality user-generated content on their Websites and, to a lesser degree, their print products, Helium has thrown another idea balloon into the air. It will be interesting to see how long those ideas can stay up.
– Ronn Levine
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