Was ich ja wirklich sehr lustig finde: Eine Kunstfigur wie Don Alphonso – nichts gegen ihn, sein Unterhaltungswert ist sehr hoch – will der deutschsprachigen Blogosphäre die ganze Zeit etwas von Glaubwürdigkeit erzählen. Und davon, dass Geld verdienen und Bloggen ja nur hübsch getrennt bleiben werden müssen, da sonst die Glaubwürdigkeit perdu ist.

Nun gut: Die Debatte im angelsächsischen Raum ist da schon etwas weiter. Bezahlte Blogger (Problogger) sind dort nichts Ungewöhnliches mehr. Und man mag Jason Calacanis (wer ihn nicht kennt: wir hatten ihn erst vorgestern) für ein Großmaul halten – wo er Recht hat, hat er Recht. Die Debatte dort entzündete sich an seinem Angebot, die besten Bookmarker von digg & Co. für Netscape anzuwerben. Mit Geld.

Clearly, some folks are very threatened by this idea of paying the masses. They are threatened for different reasons and I’ll break them down for you.

1. Some entrepreneurs are very threatened by this concept because for the last couple of years they’ve gotten a free ride on the backs of the masses. Now, it’s true that Flickr provided a free service and value to their users, as does DIGG and REDDIT, but the top 1-2% of the users on these services are providing much more value to the companies then they are getting back. There should be a market for the 1%, and if I have to create it so be it–I’ll take the heat. I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to build a business.

2. The media elite are *very* threatened by this idea–just as they were threatened by the concept of paid bloggers. Why, because by making a wider talent pool drops the pay rates they’re accustom to getting. There are thousands of great writers who got their start by free blogging who are now getting paid. Those new folks have lower pay expectations and the $1-a -word crowd was really pissed off about it. I remember someone in the stock photography business who got upset by me offering my pictures for free for commercial use. His problem was that my photos were as good as stock in many cases, and I was gonna take money away from the stock business. You know what, I don’t care! It’s *my* work and I can do what *I* want with it. This is the new world we’ve built here, and talent rises, wins, and gets to decide for THEMSELVES if they want to get paid or not. It’s not Mike Arrington’s choice, it’s the content creators choice. For photos and blogging I choose to not get paid–for some of my others skills I want to get paid.

The talent pool is bigger and more open today and that benefits the little guy and it scares the heck out of the big guy. I love it!

The irony of ironies is that the so-called meritocricy of Web 2.0 is the most upset about this concept. They will fall back on the „you’re corrupting community by paying them“ line of BS, but don’t fall for it.