Nick Carr seems to think that "professional" writers are essential to a healthy ad-space on the web:

By contrast, there's plenty of supply available for banner ads. The problem here is that advertisers don't much like the space that's available, particularly the space that's near user-generated content: "The complex task of spreading media spending across thousands of small Web sites, many with different ad formats, means that advertisers tend to return to heavily trafficked sites, where supply is at a premium. Even on the big portals, marketers are leery of having their ads placed near consumer-generated content that might be objectionable."

The upshot? Expect higher prices and slower growth in online advertising until supply catches up with demand. As ever, good content is king, and the flood of amateur content doesn't appear to meet advertisers' definition of "good." Maybe professionals aren't so dispensable after all.

I've got a news flash for Carr: mass media just isn't coming to the web. You and Fortune magazine are going to have to adjust to the real world, and realize that narrow-casting is the future.

Meanwhile, advertisers are going to have to do something they aren't used to: work. They are going to have to start figuring out where their target audience is, and start delivering information that people actually want, instead of mindless pap that we desperately want to skip over. More "professionals" is exactly what we don't need.

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