IT Web to pay bloggers for content

Jovan Regaseck the founder of IT Web and a man who I very much admire and respect, is quoted by Tectonic as saying: “In a state of madness (perhaps), I decided that we needed a world first. Something never done before.”

It Web says it is going to pay bloggers a generous 10c per page impression for their articles, pictures or video clips for a new site they have launched called My Digital Life. The base, discounted rate for online advertising is around 15c (sometimes 10c per page impression) so the margin must be quite tight for them, unless other sponsorships have been negotiated for the site. Although inevitably they will have more than one ad spot per page.

It’s also interesting to note that it was Jovan who recently published a piece saying ‘Beware of Social Media’ in which he says the media industry “as we know it lives under glass bell. Waiting for the Barbarians to come.”

Tectonic rightly reports that strategies where bloggers are paid for content are not new in South Africa. Johncom’s Reporter.co.za have been doing this for some time as well as the world famous Oh My News. However what may be different is that My Digital Life combines journalist-generated content with that of news and opinion from readers under one brand.

Regaseck via Tectonic goes on to say:

“Social networks are the hottest property in the dot com universe. MySpace, Facebook, and a host of others are connecting hundreds of millions of people with similar interests. If IT Web is a leader of technology content in South Africa, this next step is not an option for us – it is a must.”

This is a bold and brave experiment from It Web. Will be interesting to see how it all transpires.