Online Journalism News

Readers cash in on social network

DigitalJournal.com has re-launched as a revenue-sharing social network website offering financial rewards to readers for posting news and comments.

The beta version site pays people to blog, post news, videos, comment on and rate stories, with greater frequency of community interaction leading to higher levels of remuneration from a monthly cash pot.

Readers are paid for their contribution by being given a share of advertising revenue as they create the aggregation and comment pages on which it is carried.

The new home page now carries user's news alongside more traditional editorial, similar to the recently redesigned Netscape home page.

The free subscription allows users to submit stories - a la Digg - by writing a headline, a brief explanation and a link to the host page.

"Our goal is to develop the strongest user-powered news site on the internet, and provide tools for users to exchange comments and ideas on news that matters to them," said Chris Hogg, editor-in-chief of DigitalJournal.com.

The site was founded in 1998 as an online technology/lifestyle publication. It spawned a quarterly magazine before taking its latest incarnation.

But it is not yet the retirement fund it seems - contributors have to work hard for their money.

October's cash pot was $1000 from which leading earner Wolfman2001 took home the princely sum of $349.38. If paid in Canadian dollars - it's not that clear - the amount equates to £162.

Since registering on 22 September, Wolfman2001 has blogged 645 times, added 1,437 comments and uploaded 358 images.

The developer's claim the more people sign up, the greater the revenue pot, from which they can draw, will become.

To prevent contributors going hungry in the meantime, other readers can also donate funds to them.

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
usd | advertising revenue | online technology/lifestyle publication | strongest userpowered news site | beta version site | chris hogg |

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