Yesterday Google opened up their Wikipedia killer Knol for public beta.  Currently the number of Knols is small but I predict we will see an explosive growth now that it's open.  I'm not sure it's any better than Wikipedia although it is different enough that it could prove to be a reasonable and slightly more reliable competitor.  In the end I suspect that they will co-exist and serve two different masters.

The reason I'm bringing this up at all is that it is brand new and there isn't a lot of information currently available.  That makes it a pretty bad research tool right now but does offer a limited window of opportunity.  One of the things about a Knol that is unique from a Wikipedia article is that the author of a Knol is visible.  The thing that makes a Knol more reliable is that it isn't anonymous and the person who writes the Knol is putting his or her reputation behind it.  When a user views a Knol they see a picture of the author as well as the author's name and a short set of credentials. 

This exposure could be a huge marketing boon for an individual looking to increase their exposure and image in a particular area.  Since there isn't a lot of content right now, you could "own" a niche which would quickly elevate you to the status of leading expert.  For example, if you were a consultant with a fair amount of knowledge in SaaS architectures, you could write Knols on SaaS, Cloud computing, SOA etc...  Your name would be associated with that niche and would appear again and again when a company began doing research before a major system upgrade.  Before long you would become "the guy who wrote the book on SaaS."  The demand for your services should increase dramatically as a result.

Opportunities like this don't come along very often and certainly don't last very long.  The opportunity is here now and the window is small.  Strike now.

TTFN