Blogger Pay Controversy at HuffPo

A formula for paying bloggers who write for the Huffington Post was proposed by contributor Michelle Haimoff. She advocated HuffPo bloggers be paid from a 20 percent set-aside from the site's ad revenue and she devised a method to reward bloggers who contribute most to HuffPo's business and goals.

Every month authors of the 200 articles that receive the highest number of page views would receive $250 bonuses.

Every month authors of the 200 articles that result in the most time spent on the site would receive $250 bonuses.

Every month authors of the 200 articles that are of the highest editorial quality would receive $250 bonuses.

Not mentioned but likely needed would be a full-time staff member to perform blogger data-gathering and analysis. Note that HuffPo reportedly has 3,000+ bloggers and more than $10 million annual ad revenue. By the way, last year the site was rumored to be worth $200 million.

Nevertheless, Arianna Huffington, a staunch proponent of getting bloggers to write for nothing, is on vacation and hasn't responded. HuffPo representative Mario Ruiz, however, has responded by stating that the HuffPo is a platform providing wide audience exposure for the bloggers so they don't need to be paid. Of course, when Arianna returns from vacation, she may weigh in with additional comments.

As a data-point regarding HuffPo's editorial goals, Arianna Huffington's favorite television show is Keith Olbermann, which explains why I don't visit the Huffington Post.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.