Today is the first-ever Pay a Blogger Day meant to recognize the time-consuming work of curating thoughts, ideas and even movements in the blogosphere. I clued into Pay a Blogger Day through a tweet from blogger Maria Popova of Brain Pickings, who proudly displays a ‘tip jar’ at the top of her page. Underneath it she says, “Brain Pickings remains ad-free and takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit, between the blog, the newsletter and Twitter. If you find any joy and value in it, please consider a modest donation.”
Beyond the obvious goal of supporting beloved bloggers, Pay a Blogger Day also represents a move toward thinking of influential blogs as more legitimate media outlets with real value. Popova ponders what it means to provide intellectual and creative labor in the digital age in a post today. It begs the question of whether those who are so used to devouring free web content will be able to attach a monetary value to their favorite sites and make that jump in their thinking, or if advertising will continue to reign supreme in financing content.
What do you think? Would you pay for access to your favorite blogs to keep the content and ensuing conversation flowing?