Do You Want to Make Money Talking About Nothing?

Back in the day the Internet used to be quite ubiquitous with opportunities to "write" things and get paid. I put the word, "write," in quotations because it's not writing like writing poetry, short stories, or even articles or blogs.

It's social media kind of writing. Similar to what one might do when they post something on X or Facebook. The difference between those sites and the other ones was that you got paid for it.

But the premise was the same. You could talk about your day, an experience you had, share what you had for dinner or pretty much anything you wanted to talk about. And like I said, sites like this were ubiquitous. 

Sites like Bubblews, DailyTwoCents, PersonaPaper, Niume, and even a site like WebAnswers, which was a question-and-answer site, were quite popular, and people did actually make a decent amount of money doing it even if it was not life changing money, nor enough to replace a regular income.

Oh, but it got close. 

Bubblews, for example, allowed people to make sometimes a hundred dollars or more a month, and the same could be true of WebAnswers which was tied directly to Google AdSense and generated a lot of cash for users.

If you were on multiple sites combined, as I was, income could be really good. Close to $1,000 a month, and I am not joking about this.

On top of that, if you could actually write, there were other places like HubPages that were open to writers, and some of the top writers in a place like that could actually make an income akin to a job. Or pretty darn close to it.

But of course, this was back in the day and all of the sites I mentioned, with the exception of HubPages, no longer exists. Part of the issue was always the pay structures. The site owners essentially paid too much, and I think the idea was that eventually one of these sites would be able to go public, find new sources of income, and be able to become platforms open to the public that could offer alternative sustainable incomes for people.

The idea is mostly dead, unfortunately, save for one site that I am aware of that remains. That would be myLot.

Surprisingly, it's become a rather small community despite having been around for nearly 20 years. But it still pays, although it's a tiny amount. Payouts occur each month so long as a member has earned at least $5, and on average, depending on user activity, people generally earn between 10 cents and 25 cents a day.

So, it's hardly a job. But it is a fun place that is fun to write about anything, and have interactions with different viewpoints and cultures from around the world.

Call it an electronic pen pal site if you will. 

Each post is called a discussion, and what they are essentially, are conversations among "friends." And it does happen to be a very tightknit community. People really get to know each other.

If you are looking for a place to share your thoughts and ideas and life with others and get paid for it, myLot might be just the place to give a try. Whether it sticks around for a long time to come is up in the air. But considering it has survived longer than any other of the sites like it says something about its successful model to at least keep the doors open as long as it has.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on my Facebook page to keep up with the latest writings wherever I may write them. Want to check out myLot? You can visit their site by clicking here.

© 2024 Jim Bauer