In the ever changing social landscape platforms & services come and go but one thing is consistent when it comes to monetization. Most networks are focused on selling some form of advertising next to your content. And outside of YouTube’s recent changes, most of the time revenue does not come back to the user until now.
Chime.in is a new entrant into the social space and just came out of a private beta. What makes Chime.in different is that it will pay users to contribute by sharing 50% of revenue it earns from selling advertising on your profile pages. This applies to both individuals & brands.
If you are feeling very ambitious, if you sell the real estate yourself you can keep all of the proceeds.
As a user, instead of a 140 character status update, you have a the ability to upload photos, videos & 2000 characters of text. Because Chime.in claims to be an interest network vs. a social network, the focus on content that is relevant to users is at the forefront of the experience.
Here is an example of the Chime.in content interface
Where this gets really interesting is from a brand marketing perspective.
With a focus on relevant content, and control over advertising revenue on the brand level, Chime.in can offer brands a new way to monetize their social followings. This shifts the dynamic from a link driven focus to one where direct monetization of followers is possible.
At this point, the site is still a work in progress as I have noticed odd behavior by the algorithm but Chime.in is definitely something to be aware of and consider when planning for 2012.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
