Gather.com - Citizen Journalism: News by You

Gather´s a news site that operates bottom-up with stories coming in from we, the people; contributors get paid based on the quality and popularity of their content. So if you´ve something novel to say about breeding orchids, roasting chicken, movies, politics, sports-- just about anything, then cook up an article and submit it to Gather. This grassroots news ensemble has got topics to please everyone. In a sense, it´s like MySpace combined with Newsvine (but with more money). There´s definitely a social networking aspect going for it; you can search for members and check out their pics and articles. You can comment and rate articles, and there are discussion groups (Groople, for group travel, Manic Mommies,Harvard Med, to name a few). If you´re into news for the people, by the people content, Gather´s the place to go.

“Do you remember that thing the other day that really caught your attention? You heard it on the radio on your drive home, or perhaps at a dinner party last weekend. It made your heart beat in excitement or made your blood boil. You were distracted by it all night long, and kept coming back to it the next day. Maybe it was a lyric in a song, just one phrase that connected. Perhaps it was a sound bite from your congressman, or a court ruling that affects you, your family, your church, or your friends. Whatever it was, it touched you. It clicked with you. It mattered.

Gather is a community for sharing the news that matters to you. It already has a heady sum of investment money $7 million, at last count, and there´s a lot of hype and buzz surrounding it. Best of all people can make money for submitting articles.

Gather is notorious for being well, disliked in the blogosphere, and it´s easy to see why. The site is poorly executed; navigation´s a pain, there are ads posted every where; and for a site that proclaims the glories of sharing, and interaction, the site isn´t well designed for exchange and interaction. Besides, shouldn´t people who actually work for a living writing articles get something for their efforts? Citizen journalism can yield some pretty mediocre results.