I’ve now been approached by two different companies looking to use my photos on their websites. Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides. They found my photos of Brussels on Flickr and asked permission if they could use them. Of course, I said “yes”. I get the satisfaction of sharing my photos and being a published photographer. Schmap gets free content and collects all of the ad revenue… or whatever drives their business model. NowPublic.com did the same thing with some photos I took of Stephen Harper.
Lots of websites make money collating (free) user-generated content. That’s exactly what AllRecipes.com does. They claim to be the largest vertical-based social networking site – with more than 50 million unique visitors each year. Although started by cultural anthropology grad students, it is not surprising that Reader’s Digest bought the site for $66 million.
