Comments on: Helium: click to compare other peoples’ topical writing

By: side effects of imitrex

side effects of imitrex — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:15:43 +0000

le prozac versent des chiens de les…

xenical clearance…

By: steve rogers{lucky13}

steve rogers{lucky13} — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:35:55 +0000

Lets make it much easier to get to things once logged in. I could’nt find what I have written for a half hour or get to where my next work would constructed. The whole thing should be as easy as 1,2,3! and not a maze for us newcomers. I love HELIUM! but where can I quickly read any comment about my entry? Lets make that 1,2,3,4,5,-BADABING!! Thanks for your great site!
Steven W. Rogers(lucky13@clab.net)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:25:35 +0000

One bad thing about this site is the fact that you can’t identify yourself in the article. I guess it is good on the behalf of Helium because you can’t jump ship and bring your readers with you, but at the same time I think that personalities are a HUGE selling point on educational material. Would you rather buy the Official 2007 Gadget Guide or CrunchGear’s 2007 Gadget Guide? The brand is Helium, but Helium doesn’t have any names attached to it. The only way I can think of coming across the site is if it showed up in my search results.

By: supermom_in_ny

supermom_in_ny — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:59:12 +0000

Again with the payperpost. Michael…I just don’t know what to say.

Did you enjoy my writing there? I’m a member of Helium. I also write on my blogs for BLOGITVE, PPP and Blogsvertise to earn income. Oh, I’ve blogged for Review ME and Creamaid too. Thanks for the heads up!

Hey, why don’t you ever mention Blogitive when you criticize “get paid to blog” sites? They were the first on the scene…well if you don’t count
http://www.marqui.com/Payblogg.....s_FAQ.aspx

That was a big, big controversial move on their part. Wasn’t it?

In the end, bloggers that participate in companies like this are trying to earn some extra money. Unfortunately, we don’t rake in the bucks like you do.

Well, not yet…

One more thing, when one of your buddies posted the PPP blogroll on their site to “out” particpating bloggers-they forgot my blogs. Hey, I can use the traffic too!

By: Symbolic Order : Helium Just Doesn’t Feel Right

Symbolic Order : Helium Just Doesn’t Feel Right — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:16:57 +0000

[...] Recently launched Helium sits somewhere between Newsvine and Yahoo! Answers without the questions. The idea is to organize content into informational categories, from “Where to go for free stock footage” to “Reasons not to believe in God”. Users write articles, which are voted up by usefulness. Techcrunch explains: [...]

By: Snapple Apple

Snapple Apple — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:12:47 +0000

Why haven’t you guys done a story on Associated Content yet? They are probably the best user generated site on the web.

Visit http://www.associatedcontent.com

they are way better the this Helium site.

(sorry for the typos)

By: Snapple Apple

Snapple Apple — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:53:27 +0000

Why haven’y you guys done a story on Associated Content yet? They probably have the best user generated site on the web.

Visit http://www.associatedcontent.com

they are way betten the this Helium site.

By: Farmer Bob

Farmer Bob — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:03:02 +0000

Hi,

I’ve been writing on Helium for several months, so I thought I’d chime in on the subject. It’s a fun place. Since I’m in and out of the house all day, the relatively short nature of the articles fits my schedule, while still providing a creative outlet. A bit of pocket money doesn’t hurt either

The community at Helium is another attractive feature. There are members from all over the world, which can make things informative and entertaining. This really shows on the Helium Discussion Board (under Community.)

The Board also shows the other great thing about Helium, the staff. There’s some good people working at this place. Not only are they a fun group, they actually listen to what we have to say.

Over all, my experience with Helium has been most rewarding.

By: /pd

/pd — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:18:03 +0000

Marshall, I don’t care if your handsome or not.. (maybe your other readers do !!)

anyhoot, thanks for full feeds now !!

By: Shokal

Shokal — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:32:59 +0000

The “clicking game” sounds like a way Helium differentiates itself from other similar services. I am not sure it will proove itself traction-wise as it is not aimed at the user motivation of being there in the 1st place. It may be fun - however not fun enough to justify producing/consuming of more content.
As for myself - for the purpose of monetizing my content - I prefer http://www.triond.com

By: Tarry Singh

Tarry Singh — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:45:15 +0000

Hmm.. I don’t know about Slideshare. It is no wonder good but I see that the conversion *.ppt to a flash file does mess up with the slides.

By: technobee

technobee — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:07:10 +0000

The review process sounds similar to how Coppola’s zoetrope.com operates. But before you can write you have to review other people’s work. Of course their business model has a printed magazine and they take a cut of anything that turns into an actual film.

By: carmen

carmen — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 02:12:15 +0000

most confusing rails site ever.

i’m a big confused to the business model. google takes 2/3 of the ad revenue, giving 1/3 to helium. maybe they give 1/3 of that on to you. if you’re really good at writing articles you might as well set up your own site/blog/whatever and cut out one of the two middlemen (at least until theres a nice open ad market cutting out the other one)

By: Jhatak Free Web Meeting Client

Jhatak Free Web Meeting Client — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:00:34 +0000

Pretty interesting idea. Marriage of content creation with community based valuation models.

By: Drew

Drew — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:19:17 +0000

I am frustrated with the brevity in answers, concerned with the authority with which some users will post, and also noted that some of the items I browsed through were blatant adds. Not to mention that the add banners are everywhere.

So some things are done well (getting adds in my face), while others could be far better (almost evertything else).

/Sink it.

By: Daniel Gueorguiev

Daniel Gueorguiev — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:53:31 +0000

I hate to play the devil’s advocate here, but doesn’t anyone else see the huge potential loophole in this whole system. In my opinion, combining writing for money with pay-per-click is a recipe for disaster. You are opening up the gates for an enormous inflow of low quality, perhaps even copyrighted material (yes, i know it’s agains the TOS, but do you think this will stop some users?). I’ve already seen some posts clearly made just for the sake of posting and the potential of earning something.
Furthermore, has anyone considered the fact that people will eventually start clicking on their own ads? Does anyone know how Helium will counteract that?

By: Marshall

Marshall — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:48:53 +0000

/pd I’ll see what I can figure out - I’m just in charge of writing blogposts and being handsome.

By: /pd

/pd — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:44:44 +0000

Marshall /Mike or Can someone from TechCrunch answer the partial feed issue ??

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Helium、一般ユーザーによる話題の記事をクリックで比較

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Helium、一般ユーザーによる話題の記事をクリックで比較 — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:00:39 +0000

[...] [原文へ] Helium [...]

By: Marshall Kirkpatrick

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:55:39 +0000

Well Mike, the commitment that blogging often requires is not something that everyone can or wants to make. I don’t think that writing occaisionally on topical questions means you’re just in it for the money. Other motivators could include trying to get ranked high on the site, learning from others, modding down what you think is crap from other users, etc. But good luck with the old fashioned way of doing things!

By: Mike Rundle

Mike Rundle — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:51:43 +0000

Hey Marshall, thanks for the reply. I think there might be an overlap but what you’re saying does make sense — I imagine that people who *only* write on, say, Newsvine, Squidoo, or now Helium for money couldn’t be bothered (or don’t have the passion) to start their own blog on the topic. Maybe that’s the opinion of a guy who’s been blogging for far too long but it just sounds like the people who would write on Helium are *only* looking to make a quick few bucks. Kind of like most taxi drivers are just doing it to pay their bills, not because they’re in love with automobiles or enjoy human interaction a ton.

There are a ton of ways to make money from a blog (AdSense, all the ad networks, building your own traffic, etc.) but I guess if all those ways fail, or the author doesn’t have the drive to try any, sites like Helium that are content farms could be an option. I’ll stick to doing it the old fashioned way

By: Marshall Kirkpatrick

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:47:06 +0000

Mike, the company says one advantage they have over traditional blogs is that there’s an audience here whereas not every blogger can build up their own. I’d add too that this is a different medium that could be better suited to very occaisional writers. I’m glad you bring up the points you do, they are interesting and important, but I personally think comparing Hellium and blogs is apples and oranges.

By: Basicity.com

Basicity.com — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:46:35 +0000

Isn’t this a little similar to what Newsvine is doing?

By: Mike Rundle

Mike Rundle — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:43:27 +0000

It seems like so many companies are launching now, trying to (basically) defeat the purpose of the Independent Web and people’s own blogs. The blog platform allows anyone to write about anything, but then startups like Squidoo and now Helium are trying to take content that *would* be published on somebody’s blog and control it, drop it on their own site, and then make a dime from it. While they pitch the ability to drive traffic back to your own site, is that really true? I just viewed a few Helium authors’ user profiles and while they had the name of their own blog on there I didn’t see any type of link, nor is there a link to their blog on their own articles.

Blogs are powerful, and I can see why companies are trying to take would-be blog content for their own uses, I just think it’s hurting the overall goals for the blog world — independent, unfettered opinions.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:31:24 +0000

Best web 2.0 name I’ve seen so far. Helium is a brand with a lot of potential. I wish them the best.