Its Newser by Users section asks readers to pick stories and and to write and upload intros to them, just as Newser's staff do on the rest of the site. There's no pay for these contributions, so the only obvious motive to is to see how popular your entry is.
After initially finding no sign of my story on the Most Popular page, I was chuffed to see it had been picked for promotion on Newser's front page, alongside the 'professional' work of Newser staff.
End of story, I thought ... until I received an email from Newser saying it wanted to thank me for my contribution, and, as a token of its appreciation, to send me a Newser bag. Could I send them my address?
Well, sure! And a couple of weeks later this handsome Newser bag was delivered.
Either online journalism is a more prosperous business than I'd thought, or Newser is so desperate to get its own readers to do the work of its paid staff that it's trying to jolly them along with bags.
I feel I shouldn't really keep the bag. After all, I was only trying to get a blog out of my Newser experience.
So if anyone has a tale to tell about their life on the ever-shifting border between paid and unpaid journalism, I'd be happy to pass it on (still in mint condition).
Can you make any kind of living from writing online? For instance, have you tried contributing to something like Associated Content, a start-up bought by Yahoo! in May for a reported $100 million? It describes itself as the People's Media Company, and says that "anyone who shares instructional information, reviews, guides, interviews, opinion pieces and other musings should get paid and recognised for their time and expertise". It now boasts 2 million contributions and pays $1.50 to $2 for every 1,000 page views - but only to US citizens or legal residents.
Just email me at BBCCollegeofJournalism@bbc.co.uk, with 'Newser' in the subject field, if you are happy to have your experiences posted. I'll put the best stories up here and send the Newser bag on another journey.
