Helium is a very interesting place.

On Helium (which refers to itself as a "citizen journalism outlet"), you write about anything worth informing people about. There are different categories and topics, and you get rated for what you write. There are preselected topics to choose from, and you have to write on one of those topics, and often, articles need to be a certain length.

Sometimes what you write is pitted against other people's writing on the same or a similar topic, Article A vs Article B, and a reader chooses which is "more valuable" and moves on to another topic. It's like a little debate where you choose your side and argue for it.

You can give praise to certain writers, send invites, join and explore the community, and more. Reader ratings determine the article's rank, and readers get little stars to show how active they are in ranking.

Basically, the purpose of Helium is to learn and share what you've learned, as a place where writers unite and network. You thrive on competition (how American). It's a neat concept.

Another part of Helium is the money, which is actually what attracted me to it. They advertise about a lot of different financial opportunities on Helium, from jobs to contests. You can earn money for the articles you write, so long as you write according to Helium's standards. It almost reminds me of HubPages. However, you can donate earnings to one of a wealth of organizations.

I've never encountered any problems with Helium, such as by getting earnings or submitting articles. However, I fear I haven't been active enough with it. I should have written more articles, but I got discouraged when I didn't earn any money. I would encourage people to keep writing articles, and who knows! I didn't do anything with my account for months and still got a few bucks.