Understanding that citizen journalists are just as happy to be paid for their work as editors on a newspaper's payroll, the Swedish version of Metro newspaper recently launched get-paid-per-view blogging.
Anyone can set up a blog at Metrobloggen.se, which integrates blog creation tools with a system for micro-payments. As soon as an individual blog achieves 5,000 pageviews per month, Metro sets up a bank account and sends the author a MasterCard that's credited with 150 Swedish kronor (USD 20 / EUR 16). Adhering to fiscal regulations, the media company deducts social security fees and withholds income tax.
A number of popular metrobloggers previously published their own blogs on other platforms or their own websites. By switching to metrobloggen.se, they not only cash in on their writing efforts, but also have the chance to reach a larger audience, since strong blog content will be cross-published in Metro Sweden’s print edition and on metro.se, dishing up a blogger's opinions to over a million readers.
Metro Sweden, part of the international Metro conglomerate of free daily newspapers, has found a way to reward members of Generation C for the content they create. In doing so, they're attracting dedicated bloggers and fleshing out the paper's online content, allowing Metro to serve up more online ads. Their payment model is one to follow if you're in publishing or media. For more on paying consumers for their creative output, check out trendwatching.com's Generation C(ash).
Website: www.metrobloggen.se
Contact: metrobloggen.se@metro.se
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Wise solution. So everyone is happy. Hopefully this will be followed by the other publishers who are anyway using content from blogs.
I like this one - i'd also be interested in seeing who else takes this up, particularly here in the UK
Sounds like a great idea.
sounds like a winner to me.
Newspapers making use of 'blogs and notable 'bloggers isn't new, but rewarding them financially is.
I've written about this before, so these latest developments deserve an update of sorts.
I'll be keeping an eye on things...
It will be interesting to see if this starts an avalanche of other media services following suite.
Mark Bowness
Mark Bowness | June 27, 2007 3:31 PM