There is a reason why the big internet companies are arguably the biggest money generators and chanellers in the history of humanity, and it isn't in dealing with water, oil, food or even air, per se.
It's in directing information.
Think about it: before you go out to look for whatever it is you want or need to live, to work, to be entertained, or to simply educate yourself, the first thing you do is do the 'W4+H': who, what, when, where and how. Without information, all the resources in the world would be out of your reach.
And make no mistake, people attach a high premium on what necessary, useful or plain entertaining information is out there, that adds value to their lives. Simple information. And this isn't new -- people have been writing letters, books, TV shows, essays, and papers/theories on everything from health, science, art, personal affairs and the like since humans could scrawl.
It's just that the Internet simply traffics this information quicker, more thoroughly, more interactively and more dynamically than any other medium before it.
If you own a business already, you already know the importance of the flow of information about your company. Whether written, televised or word-of-mouth, you need that magazine review or ad, name on the marquee or a positive grapevine to ensure your success. And, one way or the other, you pay for that positive buzz -- or are trying to.
Fortunately, being a participant in as well as a consumer of this flow of information allows you to be in the conversion of information to money. Whether you buy something as a result of reading about it from someone's blog post, or aid an advertiser in reaching your audience's tastes, or even gossiping about a friend's antics, ads are tailored to fit your audience to generate more exposure for these businesses -- including your own. You are propelling this kind of commerce right along.
In short, we at meetUon.com figured we all should share in these revenues because -- ta da! -- we are the ones creating it!
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Google, Yahoo! and the other internet companies thought about it first -- and agreed. This is why meetUon.com is able to implement this system on our site -- something only a handful of sites in the world can do (or want to do, anyways 
).
We hope that the end result is more than just financial -- we hope that it actually progresses communication between different groups, trains of thought and walks of life, in a forum that otherwise wouldn't meet directly to share ideas among its disparate membership. Many great ideas have been forged from the most unlikely of alliances. We at meetUon.com hope that our community can be one of this ideal's great sparks.
Of course, the cash flow makes it all that much sweeter.
To read more on how the internet makes money and other issues, check out our Online Money blog.
