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@gather.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.
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Comments: 69
Wow, really, 1000 buckaroos? Dang, those are some serious Gather members.
Faith- It shouldn't have caused any issue, but I have alerted our customer service team (Ben :-) and he will be back to you ASAP.
And everyone, thanks for the kind words generally! Our Pittsburgh and Boston teams have been doing some amazing work for us.
My personal thanks to you and the team.
So you want to "create a disruptive economic model?" Right ON! You'll be the RNC's pick for the 2008 nomination in no time! To use one of Johnny 5000's dreaded acronyms, I am LMAO at this quote.
No, but seriously, strange use of words aside, this sounds great.
Books, books and more books! Barnes & Noble, here I come!
1) - If we know of a retailer (or like Mandi suggested - a Gasoline Company) that would make a great Gather Points Partner, who should we tell them to contact, or where should we direct them to?
2) - I don't see the cash values you mentioned - am I looking in the wrong place? Where do I go to choose a cash payment as a cash earner on Gather? I faxed my tax form a few days ago. (Not ready to cash out yet - just want to know how)
Thanks again Tom and Gather Staffers! You're awesome!
So now is my option only cash? What if I decide I want to take advantage of one of the partnership offers? Especially the option of donation.
Has there been any thought about members being able to pool points to one of the charities, or is it strictly on an individual member basis?
You are very welcome...we are so excited that the day has com for Gather compensation.
Great question as always! Members that shift from points to cash are cash earners going forward. Because we need to keep accounting and tax reporting straight, we couldn't build a system that lets people flip back and forth. We may do that someday, but it would have delayed compensation months to add that kind of complexity now.
If you wish to remain a points earner, give Ben Stephens a shout. During this launch phase, I imagine we can make a one-time change back for people. That said, you can always take a cash payment then go and buy those books at Barnes&Noble or the travel at Sunburst, or donate it to any charity you like if you decide to stick to cash.
Enjoy, Monica!
AstroGirl- sorry...it's the couple of years that I spent working as an analyst and casewriter for a business school creaping back out. More on disruptive economics when I manage to do some writing on my next flight (please try to contain your excitement :-)
The idea of earning cash is intriguing. Since some activities are worth more than others, will we ever be able to know which activities our points are coming from ?
Dear Lord, I'm doomed to be forever in the soup kitchen. Gulp.
Wait, I can churn out articles. And then I'll have enough for one more cup of coffee for the road. Wowee!
Magi
OK. I'll try. I was getting ready to switch parties just to vote for you, you know. Looking forward to your explanation of disruptive economics.
I'm not against members being paid for their effort - in fact, I think they should be! But my concern all along has been that payment for effort encourages a focus on volume posting rather than quality posting, with the current rating system favouring a few and disadvantaging everyone else. That is, members being paid for numbers of articles and comments posted on a skewed playing field. Given fairness in promotion of all members, I have no problems at all with payment. In fact, I applaud it!
Like others, I'd like some more information on donating earnings to charity.
Magi
Thanks! Gather has given me an opportunity to provide free advice to aging hippies like myself and to spin tall tales from the Sixties for the delight of the X, Y & Z generations. The concert is never over but we're not quite the spry Bobby McGees we used to be!
Cheers,
Colonel Possum
We definitely want to make the same opportunities available to members abroad. We just need to complete our analysis (country by country). It is, frankly, more of a legal/tax/reporting challenge than a technical one. As soon as we have a country-by-country roll-out plan, I will post that on Gather.
We will keep accruing points for you until we have more information.
Thanks for your patience in the meantime!
Annina- thanks! I will pass the kind word onto our design and development teams.
;p
can you redeem the points also outside the states?
One minor thing, the $25 dollar gift cards cost more points than 2.5 times a $10 card. Is that deliberate or just a rounding error? Because the $100 cards cost exactly 10 times as many points as the $10 dollar ones. If you made the denominations $10, $20, $50, $100, you could avoid the 2.5 point discrepancy.
I'm probably going to be using my points to buy books or make charitable donations, love that feature. Thanks. :)
Way to go Gather Staff! I am impressed and excited to go bid on my digital camera on e-bay - wish me luck! I'll be writing about it soon and posting pictures! I am so excited! Give yourselves a big pat on the back.
Thanks for being so involved in explaining the process to the public at large...it's given me a lot to think about.
Let us know if you need more help!
It was a thrill when I got an email from Gather asking me to fill out a W-9 so I could get paid.