Associated Content thinks the crowd should benefit, too
Saba Kennedy Washington interviews Luke Beatty, founder of Associated Content
The Denver-based media company Associated Content solicits and publishes knowledge-driven content from its users. Associated Content pays its producers, on average, between $3 and $20 for the news, essays and opinions the site accepts, plus royalties based on the number of page views the content generates. Some of the content is also syndicated to the company's partners, but the site mostly relies on advertising for revenue.
Luke Beatty, the founder and CEO of the company, told the Denver alternative weekly newspaper Westword that Associated Content was not yet making money, but it has expanded to 20 full-time employees and approximately 55,000 content producers since its 2004 founding. In May, 2007, Westword reported that Associated Content now "regularly pummels operations associated with the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News and other big boys."
The site stirred up some controversy when one of its content producers posted a doctored newspaper story in which the Associated Content contributor changed some facts and added phony quotes. The changed story was picked up as fact by other news organizations, who treated it as fact and caused a brief uproar. Associated Content has since hired a full-time news director.
Saba Kennedy Washington interviewed Beatty, who was on his way to the airport for a business trip.
Saba Washington: How did your working for the search taxonomy company Wand, and your time in education fuel the concept of Associated Content?
Luke Beatty: Well, I certainly came from a world of search, discovery, directories, and it occurred to me that people have the ability to scour information on the web all day long without any real content. I realized that consumers were looking for information and we needed to build the tools to help them find that information. The whole premise behind AC is that the public can provide information it needs. If we could make a dent in the content base, we could build one big library with everyone dumping into the bucket what they know. My "aha!" moment happened in my office in Silicon Valley.
