VentureBeat

New startup Tagito has launched its online knowledge marketplace, providing a platform for even laymen to turn a buck on their random expertise. Basically, the web site provides a searchable database of user-generated material (documents, songs, images, etc.), that can be purchased via PayPal for micropayments under $10.

For example, you can buy a map of Death Valley National Park for $3.25, tips for lowering blood pressure for $5.10, or analysis of the European Union’s expansion for the bargain price of 30 cents. In fact, most of the documents posted to the site sound like they were college research papers at some point — “Young Marriages: Cause and Effect,” “Socio-cultural causes of football hooliganism” and the like. Most of the material is incredibly niche, but there’s a lot of it, with 12,262 documents already posted in its reference category, 12,309 in its business category and 5,086 in its health category.

Whether or not anyone is actually looking for the majority of this content is a real question. Still, if the site continues to grow, it could become a destination for comprehensive knowledge. In this pursuit, it has two strengths going for it: crisp organization and a quality-control ranking system. You might wonder how you’d go about finding a report on “The Kinesiology of the Volley Ball Serve,” in a sea of papers, but the site makes it easy to drill down to specifics with layers of tags. First you select science, then biology, then neurobiology, and there you go. As for whether this particular 20-cent article is any good, you get an idea from its 3.5 star rating out of 5. Search results are weighted based on these scores, shifting poor-quality or inaccurate articles to the bottom of the bin (reminiscent of Wikipedia).

In addition to tapping into the popular micro-payment concept, Tagito incorporates social networking features, allowing knowledge sellers to create profiles and receive comments on their content. This way, document authors can establish credibility and adapt to feedback. And, just like on eBay, both buyers and sellers rate each other after each transaction, vetting each other for future interactions on the site. Tagito itself takes 15 percent off the top of each transaction.

Sellers interested in building their personal brands can also embed their Tagito listings as a widget in emails, on their blogs, on their social network profiles or as an online forum signature. Listings are not restricted to documents — users can sell any form of digital media they have produced themselves, as well as services like legal advice. When web browsers click on a Tagito embed, a smaller window will pop up giving them the option to buy the material through PayPal right then and there (see image at right).

While Tagito’s platform is fairly unique, the idea of posting downloadable instructive documents is far from new. A number of sites offer computer manuals for paid download, for example. The company may also come into competition with how-to sites like eHow (which is also text-based), Howcast, WonderHowTo and Instructables — though most of those rely on free video content.

Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Tagito has been self-funded so far, but it’s on the lookout for investors. It already has iPhone and Facebook applications in the works.

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Tags: co:eHow, co:Howcast, co:Instructables, co:Tagito, co:WonderHowTo