Contributor network

{{Short description|Online freelance writing arrangement}}

A contributor network (or contributor platform) is an arrangement in which an online publication releases articles authored by freelance writers, known as contributors, who are not part of its staff. Depending on the program, contributors may be paid or unpaid; paid contributors are typically compensated based on the volume of articles they produce or the amount of web traffic their articles generate.{{cite web |last1=Gottlieb |first1=Jed |title=Will efforts at reinvention improve contributor networks? |url=https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/contributor-networks.php |website=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=19 February 2022 |language=en |date=20 March 2018}}

Online publications use contributor networks to expand their content selection inexpensively. Because contributors are freelancers, publications can increase or decrease the number of contributors in their networks more easily than they can hire or fire employees. Some publications that use the contributor model exercise limited editorial oversight. For example, online articles written by Forbes contributors are not reviewed by editors prior to publication.

Contributor networks are vulnerable to conflicts of interest.{{cite web |last1=Sonderman |first1=Jeff |title=What the Forbes model of contributed content means for journalism |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2012/what-the-forbes-model-of-contributed-content-means-for-journalism/ |website=Poynter Institute |access-date=19 February 2022 |date=29 May 2012}} Public relations agents and marketing companies have advertised their clients by submitting promotional articles to the contributor networks of Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Forbes, HuffPost, Inc., Insider, and Mashable.{{cite web |last1=Christian |first1=Jon |title=One Of The Web's Most Prolific Online Marketing Writers Has Been Promoting His Clients In Articles For Forbes, Entrepreneur, And Inc. Magazine |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jonchristian/jayson-demers-audienceboom-forbes-entrepreneur-pay-for-play |website=BuzzFeed News |access-date=19 February 2022 |language=en |date=2 July 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Christian |first1=Jon |title=How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Company, and HuffPost stories |url=https://theoutline.com/post/2563/how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company-and-huffpost-stories |website=The Outline |access-date=19 February 2022 |language=en |date=5 December 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Benton |first1=Joshua |author-link=Joshua Benton |title=An incomplete history of Forbes.com as a platform for scams, grift, and bad journalism |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/02/an-incomplete-history-of-forbes-com-as-a-platform-for-scams-grift-and-bad-journalism/ |website=Nieman Lab |access-date=19 February 2022 |date=9 February 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Ledbetter |first1=James |author1-link=James Ledbetter |editor1-last=Schiffrin |editor1-first=Anya |editor1-link=Anya Schiffrin |title=Media Capture |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=5 August 2021 |isbn=9780231548021 |pages=104–116 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/schi18882-008/html |chapter-url-access=subscription |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qdzfDwAAQBAJ |url-access=limited |access-date=19 February 2022 |chapter=Digital Payola: Policing the Open Contributor Network |doi=10.7312/schi18882-008 |via=De Gruyter }}