Get paid to blog, but only by tips – Salon introduces blogging for bucks

As a professional blogger, getting paid for my writing is very important to me: no revenue = no food. So the news that Salon is introducing a kind of tipping system for bloggers is one that intrigues me.

Salon.com is an online magazine that derives revenue from advertisers and subscriptions. It has regular writers, all of whom are paid for their work. But there is also Open Salon, a freely accessible section of the site that anyone can join and then contribute to. These writers aren’t paid for their work, but instead do it for the chance to air their views on a range of subjects, take part in discussions, and make some friends in to the bargain.

Salon is now adding a monetary factor in to proceedings – in the form of a tipping system. This sees readers given the chance to reward their favourite bloggers with a small tip for a story they enjoyed reading. Popular content will then be highlighted on the main Salon.com homepage for attention from a wider audience.

According to CNet, the micropayment system for this scheme is going to managed by Revolution MoneyExchange, a company founded by former AOL honcho Steve Case. Each Open Salon member who signs up to Revolution MoneyExchange will be given a complimentary $10 with which to start tipping with.

I have a few problems with this whole idea. First of all, it is clearly just intended to do two things: get people signing up for Revolution MoneyExchange, which I had never heard of until today, and enable Salon to get some nicely written free content for the subscription based magazine section of its business.

Then there’s the fact that the chances of people paying for content they can already read for free is absolutely zero. Sure, while the free $10 are floating around, a few bloggers could make a few bucks, but once that money has dried up, so will the tips.

Personally speaking, I don’t see why these bloggers, some of whom are very good writers, don’t start their own personal blogs and monetize them. The chances are that they’ll make a lot more money than they will from this publicity-seeking but ultimately unworkable tipping scheme.

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