Salon.com // Current TV

Please tip good bloggers generously

Online magazine Salon.com opened up its new hosted blog network, Open Salon, which not only allows its readers (or anybody else for that matter) to create their own blogs, but also has a built-in tipping mechanism to reward writers for their best content. As a blog host, Open Salon's feature set is similar to that of Wordpress.com or Blogger, but the differentiating feature for Open Salon is clearly the 'Tippem' tip jar which is prominently featured on every page.

As a blogging platform, Open Salon is about as standard as they come. The front page features a number of especially interesting posts as determined by the editors, as well as the ability to see the top rated, most read, and latest posts. Users can comment, rate, and save the posts on popular bookmarking sites like delicious, digg, and reddit. Open Salon also provides profiles and RSS feeds for every user.

To process micropayments from the Tippem jar, Salon.com has chosen Revolution MoneyExchange, which is still officially in beta, but must have proven stable enough by now to be chosen by Salon.com over competitors like PayPal or OboPay. Salon.com has set the default tip amount to $1, with $0.10 being the minimum and $1000 the maximum amount one can tip (for tips of $1000, Open Salon advises you to contact the author directly).

It's important to note here that everybody who signs up from a Revolution MoneyExchange account from Open Salon immediately gets $10 to give away as tips from Open Salon. While this will surely seed the system at the beginning, the real question, as Caroline McCarthy also points out, will be if users will keep tipping after those first $10 have been exhausted. After all, it's easy to tip if it doesn't cost you anything.

Given that most users on the web consider content to be free, it will be hard for Salon to foster a culture where paying for blog content becomes a regular event. But then, Salon.com is, of course, one of the few sites where a lot of the content is not free, but only available to subscribers or after being forced to watch a 15-second full screen advertisement. Because of this, Salon.com's audience might be more willing to pay for content than the average Internet user.

Check out Joan Walsh's (editor-in-chief) blog entry about Open Salon where she mentions a few featured threads:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/salon/2008/08/11/open_salon/index.htmlOnline magazine Salon.com opened up its new hosted blog network, Open Salon, which not... more

smorrisey
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

Is Obama overexposed?

This week in politics: Obama has a new and strange problem.

JoanWalsh
added this
3 years ago
|
3 comments

Is it news or is it the Onion?

Unfortunately, it was Reuters that reported on a new poll from Lifetime finding that... more

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
4 comments

Olympic gender testing

This week everyone's been talking about the decision to create a lab in Beijing... more

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
3 comments

Netroots and BlogHer

Two blogging conferences were held recently, and while the Netroots gathering of... more

RebeccaTraister
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

How can McCain turn his campaign around?

In my last video I asked this question and people didn't really have any ideas.... more

JoanWalsh
added this
3 years ago
|
21 comments

Female Viagra?

A new study suggest that the female version of Viagra might be....Viagra.

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
3 comments

The X-Files movie is being released this week

I've begun to think back on the reasons I loved the X-Files.

RebeccaTraister
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

T. Boone Pickens on oil

T. Boone Pickens is supporting a new plan to reduce America's dependence on... more

AlexKoppelman
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

How men and women react to temptation

Apparently all it takes to establish a new gender type is a study involving just 71... more

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

Oil shale as the latest miracle solution to our energy crisis

Bush has been talking about this as a way to bring down gas prices for the average... more

AlexKoppelman
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

A tough week for Obama and McCain

Obama got bashed this week for breaking a campaign promise and supporting a Bush... more

JoanWalsh
added this
3 years ago
|
4 comments

The saddest story I've heard all week

This week the Associated Press reported on the final sentencing in the case of a group... more

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
25 comments

Wedding bells are ringing for Florida governor Charlie Crist

This is significant because Crist has been mentioned as a potential running mate for... more

AlexKoppelman
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

The iPhone 3G goes on sale on Friday

This time, the lines might even be longer than the debut of the original iPhone,... more

fmanjoo
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

Deadly racism in healthcare

After conducting a series of experiments designed to discover what, if any, prejudice... more

AVtime
added this
3 years ago
|
7 comments

Pork Week at Salon

It's our inaugural celebration of the pig, and I've been learning to make my... more

RebeccaTraister
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

Copyright Prosecutions have gone too far

This week a judge ruled that Google must turn over a list of user activity from... more

fmanjoo
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

Gender and the Presidential elections

What would a feminist campaign look like?

RebeccaTraister
added this
3 years ago
|
5 comments

There's no time like the present for today's girls

A study by the N reveals that girls 13-24 say there's no time like today to be a... more

tracyclarkflory
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Salon.com

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved