blogging-for-dollars

Tumblr Is Launching Its Own Journalism Operation

Ryan Tate · 01/05/12 02:43PM

If history is any guide, tech companies should absolutely not try and become media companies. But the 25-year-old CEO of precious New York blog platform Tumblr has the fearlessness of youth. Which is why he's recruiting his own writer and editor types.

Bloggers Were Paid To Write About Google Chrome

Ryan Tate · 01/03/12 02:45PM

Hundreds of bloggers were bribed to write posts promoting Google Chrome in recent weeks. The scandal is only worsened by Google's excuse: The whole scheme was dreamed up by the company it hired to help make things popular on the web.

Blogger Gets Staggering $250,000 Retention Bonus

Ryan Tate · 11/21/11 03:02PM

Newspapers, magazines, TV networks and online conglomerates are laying off journalists left and right, but even the sad crumbling world of professional news delivery has a fortunate one percent. This elite group now includes Ben Parr, whose employer Mashable, the tech blog, paid him a $250,000 retention bonus only to turn around and fire him. Meet the happiest unemployed journalist in the world!

Get Your Politics Out of My Face, Tumblr

Ryan Tate · 11/16/11 07:03PM

Ugh, Tumblr. The exasperating microblogging site's execs were content to rent luxury cars, ignore emails, party in the Hamptons and take expensive pictures of their Vespas amid mass unemployment, economic collapse, banker bailouts, epic government privacy violations, fraudulent home foreclosures, and the beating of Occupy protesters across the country. But now that a copyright bill has put the startup's bubble jackpot on the line, it's all up in everyone's "Dashboards" with its political conscientiousness. Shut up, already.

Why Wall Street Hates the AOL HuffPo Deal

Ryan Tate · 08/09/11 04:23PM

AOL shares closed down 26 percent today, despite posting its first ad sales increase since the company was spun out from Time Warner. The problem? The disastrous AOL-HuffPo merger seems to be catching up to the internet conglomerate.

Twitter Is Mostly Zombies

Ryan Tate · 04/04/11 12:42PM

More than 175 million people have registered for Twitter accounts. Which sounds very impressive. Sadly for the microblogging startup's multi billion dollar valuation, at least 68 percent of those registrations are considered dormant.

Why CBS Bought Mommy's Twitter

Ryan Tate · 12/15/10 05:10PM

CBS picked up mommy blogger Kelly Oxford's sitcom in at least the third Twitter-to-TV deal at the network in the last year. Microblogging may feed on life's most banal moments, but that only makes TV executives love it more.

Feds Shame Clothier For Cheap Blog Bribes

Ryan Tate · 04/28/10 05:56PM

The Federal Trade Commission said it investigated Ann Taylor for trying to influence bloggers with gifts. The FTC took no action, its announcement publicized questions about blogger payola. Namely: Since when does a big-name retailer offer such crappy bribes?

Is Google Launching a Pop-Culture Blog?

Ryan Tate · 04/19/10 06:21PM

We hear YouTube is preparing a new blog, and the video-sharing site is apparently seeking one or more professional journalists to write it. Google doesn't need to wait for bloggers to take videos viral when it start the process directly.