DentBetty.com is an exciting example of supply and demand in reverse. Car owners post dent and ding photos to the site so car repair shops can provide competitive estimates. Ain’t the Web grand? When body shops compete, you win! (DentBetty is in Beta and not available everywhere, but has bust-a-move upside.) Currently free until they prime the user pump, DentBetty has a business model that will be mimicked across the Web benefiting both consumers and wired entrepreneurs. As my kids used to say “I yike it.”
Which brings us to AOL. Huh? AOL’s new shtick is to become the single greatest source of advertising supported content on the Web. (They should leave off the advertising supported part of their mission; it’s irrelevant and brand-limiting.) You might think being a content provider is being in the supply business — and it is — but as AOL uses that content to analyze and learn about online behaviors, it will find itself in a better positionto create new, un-thought of content. And if it develops new online inventions and conventions, like DentBetty, will attain revenue heights not yet seen. Content is king for sure, but it is not always one way. User generated content isn’t just text and party pics. Peace!
