I'm betting the next "big thing" with these social sharing sites is personality driven niche sites. Reddit, Digg and HN all formed around the personalities of t

I'm betting the next "big thing" with these social sharing sites is personality driven niche sites. Reddit, Digg and HN all formed around the personalities of their founders but as the communities grow large the community's personality itself takes over (giving the community a personality out of control of the founders). What I haven't seen is the loss of that democracy in favor of a benevolent dictator. Imagine a community where someone like Arrington is publicly voting on the stories giving him a Caesar like "thumbs up, thumbs down" influence over the content. You see this to some extent with "power users" but I think it won't be long before someone intentionally starts a community to promote their own ego and successfully develops a following. Think of it like grabbing a bunch of Twitter feeds in front of a crowd and saying "I like this one, who's with me?" -- and the crowd cheers. "This one sucks, right?" -- and the crowd boos. People like to follow, not lead and this concept plays off that dynamic.