Show Me The Money (and the Guild)

I thought Chris Mooney's article Blogonomics was interesting and looked at blogs in a way I hadn't thought about before. I hadn't ever considered the economic rights of bloggers. Of course I've heard about successful bloggers who have made money from their blog such as Perez Hilton, or who have gained book deals from their writing, and those who write a blog as their job like opinion writers. But I hadn't thought about those whose blogs are making money for someone else.

It only seems fair that if someone can sell advertising, or charge people to come and see what you have written, you should get some compensation for it. And from there it only makes further sense that there should be some organisation to regulate the payment of bloggers. It would help to minimise unfair treatment and payment of bloggers, who are, after all, writers.

I know we've always been looking at bloggers as the citizen journalists of the future, and have known they play a huge part in the development of the internet and it's role in society. But now there's a new reason to keep watching them, and I know that it's sparked my interest, at least.