www.gather.com/home.jsp
Cash Payments and Points Redemption Now Live on Gather
by Tom Gerace to group(s):Gather Tips and Tricks, Building a Better Gather
Today is a great day for Gather.com members. Since our launch, we have been compensating members in Gather Points for the content they share on the site and for growing the Gather community by inviting new people to join Gather. Members also earn compensation for general site activity as well.
Today we are pleased to announce that Gather members earning points may now redeem those points. Our most active members are eligible to start earning cash instead of points (see details below), and receive payments via PayPal or check. We are excited that the Gather Earnings system is now fully operational and look forward to your feedback.
As I explained in my recent article, Showing You the Money, Gather's compensation program lets us share Gather's success with the Gather members that drive our growth. From a strategic perspective, we see it as a critical part of our effort to create a disruptive economic model for media that supports user-created content. And for you, well, it means you get paid for doing something you already like to do.
Below, please find a few answers to frequently asked questions about our compensation system. Please feel free to contact us at feedback@gatherinc.com if you have others.
Will I earn points or cash? Gather members all start-off earning points on the system. Points can be redeemed for Gift Cards that you can use to shop online or in some of your favorite stores.
Professional and freelance writers tell us that they prefer cash compensation. We will therefore invite any user earning more than $50 in a month (a little over 3,000 points) to switch to cash compensation going forward. Gather members earning cash can receive payments via PayPal or check, as often as they would like them (a $2 per payment processing fee applies).
What can I do with my points? Starting today, Gather Points™ points can be redeemed for gift cards at Barnes and Noble, Uncommon Goods, CruisesOnly, and Sunburst Vacations (there are more on the way!). Points may also be donated to charities that recruit more than 100 new members to Gather.com. Currently these include Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, and Ryan's Run (again, more on the way).
Will people make real money on Gather? They already are. Based on current earnings patterns, some members may earn about $1,000 in May alone. Hundreds will be earning hundreds of dollars annually at today's rate. That's real money. And as the community grows, and as the advertising revenue grows, compensation will grow accordingly.
How does cash compensation work? As of today, if you fit into the category of those Gather members that earn more than $50 per month, you will be invited to join the Gather Cash program. As a Gather Cash participant, you will see your compensation show up in US dollars, so you'll know exactly how close you are to cashing in. Check out our update FAQs to understand the specifics of the program.
How can I earn more on Gather? There are several things you can do earn more on Gather:
1) Keep inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to join Gather
2) Belong to a social or professional group? Create and host a space for them online with Gather groups. (For more information, join David Woodrow's group, Gather Group Management 101, on how to run a Gather group)
3) Keep sharing interesting and diverse articles, stories, and images
4) Help other users feel appreciated and help them improve through your thoughtful, constructive, and occasionally playful comments.
Can international members earn compensation? We are recording compensation for all Gather members, but need to do more work on understanding international tax requirements (country-by-country, I am afraid) before we issue payments. We will look at countries with the highest concentration of Gather members first, and keep you posted as we start to meet the requirements for international payments.
How do I build my own audience and media brand on Gather? Our members are compensated based on the quality and popularity of what they write. To maximize your earnings, you need to build your own media brand inside and outside Gather. A few simple tips:
1) Include the URL for your Gather page (username.gather.com – for example, mine is tom.gather.com) in the signature of every email you send.
2) Use your Gather page (username.gather.com) as your URL when you post to other blogs online, driving more traffic to your own content
3) Increase your audience size using the tips above for inviting friends, family, or colleagues, or by growing your own group online
4) Post links to your own content in appropriate places on other sites you own or control, driving traffic to your content.
5) If you have an existing blog, consider re-pointing the URL for that blog to Gather. This will bring your current audience here where you earn a return for your work.
6) Publish regularly on topics you know well. Playing to your strengths helps ensure that people will like the content they read from you.
Thanks to all of the early members who took us on our word that today would come! And to those of you just about to start earning, thanks for joining Gather. We look forward to growing with you.
www.gather.com/about.jsp
About Gather.com
A Message from the CEO
Do you remember that thing the other day that really caught your attention? You heard it on the radio on your drive home, or perhaps at a dinner party last weekend. It made your heart beat in excitement or made your blood boil. You were distracted by it all night long, and kept coming back to it the next day. Maybe it was a lyric in a song, just one phrase that connected. Perhaps it was a sound bite from your congressman, or a court ruling that affects you, your family, your church or your friends. Whatever it was, it touched you. It clicked with you. It mattered.
Well, it mattered to a lot of other people, too. And you can meet them on Gather. Gather is a place where you can share the things that matter to you with the people that matter to you, too. You can connect around a Supreme Court nominee, an Umbrian chicken recipe, a new album by Aimee Mann, or your child's soccer game. You can share your thoughts with the entire world, or exchange ideas, photography, audio (even podcasts), or video with just your friends, your family, or your work colleagues. You can connect with your book club, your PTA, your management team, or your committee to elect a new great leader in town on Gather. We will give you a place where your group can share information with one another or with the world.
And the dreaded question: how much does it cost? How about if we pay you for a change? No, really, no kidding. You will be creating great content on Gather, for audiences large and small. Some of the things you contribute might be brilliant, novel, and interesting to a lot of people. Some might bring people from around the web to try Gather for the first time. That creates real value for other Gather users and we want to reward you for doing it.
Gather will make money by displaying advertising to people who use Gather's services. It just seems fair that we share our advertising revenue with you based on the quality and popularity of the content you contribute on Gather. We will also share some of our revenue with you if you choose to use the site actively, exploring content that others write, searching on Gather and on the web, and inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to use the site. We will pay occasional users in points that you will be able to use to purchase goods and services from Gather partners in a few months. We will pay frequent users, who write great content consistently, in cash if they choose.
That's it in a nutshell. Gather is a place for you to connect with people who share your passions. It's a place where you can contribute thought, art, commentary, or inspiration. We will reward you for all the great things you will share with others in your communities of interest. And together, we think we will create a pretty special place to hang out online.
Cash Payments and Points Redemption Now Live on Gather
by Tom Gerace to group(s):Gather Tips and Tricks, Building a Better Gather
Today is a great day for Gather.com members. Since our launch, we have been compensating members in Gather Points for the content they share on the site and for growing the Gather community by inviting new people to join Gather. Members also earn compensation for general site activity as well.
Today we are pleased to announce that Gather members earning points may now redeem those points. Our most active members are eligible to start earning cash instead of points (see details below), and receive payments via PayPal or check. We are excited that the Gather Earnings system is now fully operational and look forward to your feedback.
As I explained in my recent article, Showing You the Money, Gather's compensation program lets us share Gather's success with the Gather members that drive our growth. From a strategic perspective, we see it as a critical part of our effort to create a disruptive economic model for media that supports user-created content. And for you, well, it means you get paid for doing something you already like to do.
Below, please find a few answers to frequently asked questions about our compensation system. Please feel free to contact us at feedback@gatherinc.com if you have others.
Will I earn points or cash? Gather members all start-off earning points on the system. Points can be redeemed for Gift Cards that you can use to shop online or in some of your favorite stores.
Professional and freelance writers tell us that they prefer cash compensation. We will therefore invite any user earning more than $50 in a month (a little over 3,000 points) to switch to cash compensation going forward. Gather members earning cash can receive payments via PayPal or check, as often as they would like them (a $2 per payment processing fee applies).
What can I do with my points? Starting today, Gather Points™ points can be redeemed for gift cards at Barnes and Noble, Uncommon Goods, CruisesOnly, and Sunburst Vacations (there are more on the way!). Points may also be donated to charities that recruit more than 100 new members to Gather.com. Currently these include Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, and Ryan's Run (again, more on the way).
Will people make real money on Gather? They already are. Based on current earnings patterns, some members may earn about $1,000 in May alone. Hundreds will be earning hundreds of dollars annually at today's rate. That's real money. And as the community grows, and as the advertising revenue grows, compensation will grow accordingly.
How does cash compensation work? As of today, if you fit into the category of those Gather members that earn more than $50 per month, you will be invited to join the Gather Cash program. As a Gather Cash participant, you will see your compensation show up in US dollars, so you'll know exactly how close you are to cashing in. Check out our update FAQs to understand the specifics of the program.
How can I earn more on Gather? There are several things you can do earn more on Gather:
1) Keep inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to join Gather
2) Belong to a social or professional group? Create and host a space for them online with Gather groups. (For more information, join David Woodrow's group, Gather Group Management 101, on how to run a Gather group)
3) Keep sharing interesting and diverse articles, stories, and images
4) Help other users feel appreciated and help them improve through your thoughtful, constructive, and occasionally playful comments.
Can international members earn compensation? We are recording compensation for all Gather members, but need to do more work on understanding international tax requirements (country-by-country, I am afraid) before we issue payments. We will look at countries with the highest concentration of Gather members first, and keep you posted as we start to meet the requirements for international payments.
How do I build my own audience and media brand on Gather? Our members are compensated based on the quality and popularity of what they write. To maximize your earnings, you need to build your own media brand inside and outside Gather. A few simple tips:
1) Include the URL for your Gather page (username.gather.com – for example, mine is tom.gather.com) in the signature of every email you send.
2) Use your Gather page (username.gather.com) as your URL when you post to other blogs online, driving more traffic to your own content
3) Increase your audience size using the tips above for inviting friends, family, or colleagues, or by growing your own group online
4) Post links to your own content in appropriate places on other sites you own or control, driving traffic to your content.
5) If you have an existing blog, consider re-pointing the URL for that blog to Gather. This will bring your current audience here where you earn a return for your work.
6) Publish regularly on topics you know well. Playing to your strengths helps ensure that people will like the content they read from you.
Thanks to all of the early members who took us on our word that today would come! And to those of you just about to start earning, thanks for joining Gather. We look forward to growing with you.
www.gather.com/about.jsp
About Gather.com
A Message from the CEO
Do you remember that thing the other day that really caught your attention? You heard it on the radio on your drive home, or perhaps at a dinner party last weekend. It made your heart beat in excitement or made your blood boil. You were distracted by it all night long, and kept coming back to it the next day. Maybe it was a lyric in a song, just one phrase that connected. Perhaps it was a sound bite from your congressman, or a court ruling that affects you, your family, your church or your friends. Whatever it was, it touched you. It clicked with you. It mattered.
Well, it mattered to a lot of other people, too. And you can meet them on Gather. Gather is a place where you can share the things that matter to you with the people that matter to you, too. You can connect around a Supreme Court nominee, an Umbrian chicken recipe, a new album by Aimee Mann, or your child's soccer game. You can share your thoughts with the entire world, or exchange ideas, photography, audio (even podcasts), or video with just your friends, your family, or your work colleagues. You can connect with your book club, your PTA, your management team, or your committee to elect a new great leader in town on Gather. We will give you a place where your group can share information with one another or with the world.
And the dreaded question: how much does it cost? How about if we pay you for a change? No, really, no kidding. You will be creating great content on Gather, for audiences large and small. Some of the things you contribute might be brilliant, novel, and interesting to a lot of people. Some might bring people from around the web to try Gather for the first time. That creates real value for other Gather users and we want to reward you for doing it.
Gather will make money by displaying advertising to people who use Gather's services. It just seems fair that we share our advertising revenue with you based on the quality and popularity of the content you contribute on Gather. We will also share some of our revenue with you if you choose to use the site actively, exploring content that others write, searching on Gather and on the web, and inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to use the site. We will pay occasional users in points that you will be able to use to purchase goods and services from Gather partners in a few months. We will pay frequent users, who write great content consistently, in cash if they choose.
That's it in a nutshell. Gather is a place for you to connect with people who share your passions. It's a place where you can contribute thought, art, commentary, or inspiration. We will reward you for all the great things you will share with others in your communities of interest. And together, we think we will create a pretty special place to hang out online.
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