01/02/2008 10:53:11 PM 
(1) 
(1) There was a school of thought that said some of the billions should and might be shared amongst those who created the content in the first place.
There was obviously something of a disparity between the billions of dollars paid for a brand like YouTube, compared to the zero revenue that the creators were getting.
Critics also pointed figures at Digg for the same reason.
Of course, everyone was barking up the wrong tree; there's a big difference between valuation/purchase price and advertising revenue.
Now, on some sites, like YouTube, creators are getting a small slice of advertising revenue.
However, for most creators of content and given that "most" now includes people who put photos up on a Facebook page, there's no financial reward, just the warm glow of social connectivity.
So is this new world one where participants get zero reward for their efforts?
It looks as if some companies are looking to change this and bring in merit badges and virtual/"fools gold".
Amazon has a newish site called Askville...
"Askville is a place where you can share and discuss knowledge with other people by asking and answering questions on any topic. It’s a fun place to meet others with similar interests to you and a place where you can share what you know. You can learn something new everyday or help and meet others using your knowledge. Askville even helps you learn by giving you cool tools to help you find information online while you are answering questions. It’s all about sharing—what you know and what you want to know—so go ahead and meet someone new today and Askville!"
Answer questions on Askville and you will be given Quest Gold, which Amazon is only too happy to state is currently worth even less than the US dollar.
"Except for any special limited time redemption offers that we may make available from time to time, Quest gold are not redeemable for anything at this moment. Once Questville.com launches we hope to have exciting new ways to use your Quest gold. Until then, keep on stocking up on your Quest gold!"
People are going to be submitting answers and contributing content for the benefit of some potentially worthless virtual currency, albeit with the very cool name of Quest Gold.
The important thing to consider here is that while the currency has no material value, it still works rather well as a merit system.
It's much better than nothing because people like points systems, they can compare and compete and get some sort of satisfaction from that.
It's likely that we will see more merit and point systems around the social networks this year.
It's now time to forget the dreams of wealth sharing from Web 2.0 and instead realize the best thing the majority of content creators can expect for their efforts, is some virtual currency and a merit badge.
Via GigOm
Posted by Ed Cotton
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in a way, this seems to be bringing in another layer of game/play functionality into the mix. interesting! merit badges are pretty effective in this context. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/magazine/15-11/st_essay