Pc4Media sez: " Mernit & Rubel have an interesting back and forth going on about how ebay, craigslist, even Amazon will allow the future of mini-media companies, enabling the wider citizen's media to generate mini-media type revenues...(snip)..
The other half is missing: The tools aren't available yet to use that attention to generate a livelihood...(snip)... With the current state of ad tools, for the rest of us to make cash on the level that the pro bloggers are making, we need a salesperson selling our inventory. (and more good stuff here)

Mernit comment: Yep, you got it. But recognize that more and more, Amazon, eBay etc are platform companies with available and distributed APIs(eBay is not right now but they support lots of developers)--and the long tail will allow more and more small businesses (ie individuals) to create and sell goods and services--as well as advertising.
I think that for bloggers etc the $$ will move from 95% ad revenue, 5% transactions to 40% transactions, 60% ad revenue--a sigificant shift and one that shows individuals paying each other for things.