Scoopt the company that hoped to pay people for taking images and then licensing those images out to various different media outlets is closing.

The global recession is taking its toll on Web 2.0 and Social Media companies that are not executing on solid business plans and it would appear that British based scooped is now among those ranks.

Dear Scoopt members,

I am sorry to inform you, as a member of Scoopt, that we have decided to close the business.   We will not be taking in any more imagery after February 6, 2009 and will close the upload application.   We will also cease licensing any imagery through Scoopt on that date.

Our experience with Scoopt has taught us some very valuable lessons.  We remain convinced that there is a demand for this kind of material as part of an editorial product, but for the moment are choosing to focus our energies within Getty Images on our core products in news, sport and entertainment.

It has been a pleasure working with Scoopt, your pictures have provided a fascinating snapshot of the circumstances in which you find yourselves and have added valuable viewpoints to the news service we provide our customers on a daily basis.

A holding page will remain until March 6, 2009 but from February 6 we will not be accepting any new imagery and so the upload path will be closed, and the galleries shut down, at which point all rights over the photos revert to you, the copyright holders.

All Scoopt content that also appears on Getty Images will initially be reviewed and any Scoopt member that has photos deemed to have longer term value on Getty Images will be offered a separate contract.  To be clear, on February 6, 2009 all Scoopt content will be taken down from the Getty Images website and only be reposted, once the relevant contractual relationship with individual photographers is in place.

If your material is selected for continued inclusion on Getty Images, you will be contacted directly.   We will be posting some FAQ’s on the website to try to answer any questions you may have, so please do refer to this section.

Please note that we will be retaining your contact details in order to service any outstanding payments that are due and in case there should be need for a further communication update.  If you would like your details removed from the database, please respond to [email protected] with the words Remove Details in the subject line, and citing your Scoopt member ID.

Please use the email [email protected] for all correspondence regarding the closure of  Scoopt

Thank you for all your enthusiasm and support which have made Scoopt such an exciting place to work.

From the team at Scoopt

Alternative Image Services

It was an interesting business model, and one I think can ultimately work, but there are other competitors out there already and some pay for the photos in SEO links rather than in actual money to the owners of the picture. 

In an era where knowledge is power and money, that type of payment might be more valuable in the long run using services like Acobox that provides bloggers with free blog images and artists or copyright holders with benefits in the form of name recognition, buzz and backlinks.

Acobox offers a WordPress plugin, much like Zemanta, which offers a WordPress plugin, Firefox plugin and a WindowsLiveWriter Plugin.  Zemanta currently does not provide users with multiple image size options and you end up with a one (small) size fits all type of image.

Note. I’ve used Scoopt and Zemanta.  I have signed up for an account with Acobox but have not yet received my account details so that I can activate it and put it to good use.

Its never pleasant to experience, but it does happen, especially for new start up web companies.  If you have any measure of success and growth, you are usually going to experience some type of system crash, website crash, or db crash.  To help prove the rule, TextBroker.com that launched this year had a bit of a database crash this week. 

From my perspective there are two important things about measuring a company during a crash.  Looking at whether or not they are able to get their site working again with no loss of data and looking at how they respond to the crisis to keep their stakeholders informed.  So far, I’m not seeing any troubling warning signs with TextBroker.com but would be interested in your feedback if you have seen something yourselves.

Here’s the message from Jan Becker-Fochler their CEO

A database crash is never pleasant, particularly when it happens on the weekend before Christmas. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Textbroker.com experienced two days ago.
We became aware of the problem on Friday at 3 AM EST. After a few hours, we realized there was no quick solution and decided to temporarily shut our database and our service to avoid further damage.

Our software developers have been working around the clock to resolve the problem and retrieve all the data as fast as possible.

At the time you receive this message, Textbroker is back online in normal operation.

However, if you should experience any problems in your account, please contact our support team at [email protected]

In order to do justice to our downtime, we have decided to extend all deadlines – which is very important for clients and authors.

Advantage for clients:
Since it’s the Holiday Season, many of you will not be in the office to check and manually accept the articles you receive. To give you enough time to check your authors’ work, we have switched off our automatic article accepting feature until 3 AM on Monday, December 29.

Advantage for authors:
In case there is currently an article in your account on which you are working, the deadline will not occur before 3 AM on Tuesday, December 23.

It only remains for me to add that we are very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced because of our downtime.

My team and I wish you Happy Holidays.

Jan Becker-Fochler

Here is the subsequent message I received once I logged in to check my client account.

Unfortunately we had a major database error Friday morning (12/18/2008) at 12:01 AM EST. We have solved the problem using a backup version of our database, unfortunately meaning that all orders placed from 12:01 AM EST (12/18/2008) to 9am EST (12/18/2008) have been lost. But of course your account has not been charged for those "lost" orders. If you have placed orders during that timeframe, please check your Project Administration area and place those orders once again if necessary. We are very sorry for any inconviniences. If you should have any problems, please send an email to our support: [email protected]

That said everything else about my account seems to be just fine, and my account balances are all correct. 

I was just about ready to write the final obituary on my favorite video sharing service, Revver. They have been down for days, and even before they were down, I could no longer upload videos to them via TubeMogul, plus, many users have been complaining that they have not received a payment from Revver for the last 2 months!

This Revver activity chart kind of shows the days they went dark, but I think the drop off in mid October might actually have signaled some of the first problems(slow loading videos, pages not found etc)

Well, just when all was looking darkest, the site lit back up again and the python errors seemed to disappear. The site is still running slow as a dial up connection, but up is better than down. Who knows, maybe all those videos will not be dropped from Google’s index even.

Whether Revver will stay up, pay anyone or go back down again is still anyone’s guess.

Here’s my recommendations:

• If you have videos on Revver, make sure you have them backed up.
• Download them from Revver if you don’t, and upload them to a more reliable video server.
• Don’t delete your videos from Revver. That will just waist time and possibly make things more unstable. A little retribution might feel good temporarily, but its not going to do anyone, including yourself any good.
• Let us know if you actually get paid(and we’ll share too). Getting paid is always one of the best ways to gauge whether or not a business is going to stay alive or not. If they can’t pay you, odds are they can’t pay anyone including employees and hosts.

That’s all I’ve got for now, will share more as I find it.  Guess I picked the wrong month to try and run a viral cooking show under the concept of will it fry (like will it blend) but using a paella pan instead.  That’s the breaks. 

This week I experienced a first with PayPal.  I was double charged for a debit card transaction.  I charged X Amount of money on my Debit Card.

The firm that I paid received X Amount.

PayPal then reduced my account by X Amount once.

Then PayPal reduced my account by X Amount a second time.

This was not a transaction where they initiate the charge just to confirm my balance.  This was a completed transaction.

This happened at the end of September.  About 5 days after the transaction I received the following email:

Due to a processing error, you were debited twice for a PayPal Debit Card transaction(s) you initiated on September xx, 2008. We apologize for any inconvenience our error may have caused.

We are in the process of correcting this matter and will refund the duplicate payment(s) directly back to your PayPal account balance.

If you have incurred any banking fees as a result of this issue, please contact us within 10 business days to request a refund. We may request copies of statements or receipts showing the amount of banking fees or charges that you incurred. 

Please know that this is not intended functionality and future PayPal Debit Card transactions should function as normal.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at (888) 221-1161.

Three days after receiving this email, I still had not received a credit to my account.  I phoned in to PayPal to find out where my money was.  The merchant did not have it, I did not have it, and PayPal had not apparently done anything yet.

The phone menu system of PayPal was extremely troubling, I finally was put in touch with an ‘Agent’ who promptly became confused by completely unrelated transactions with different amounts on my account. 

They gave up and transferred me to someone in the debit card section of PayPal, where I am on hold now. 

Bottom line lesson here is always follow up with your PayPal account.

Currently, I’m out a bunch of money waiting for PayPal to get their own accounts fixed, which they knew were out of whack.  Fortunately, I did not immediately need this money for bills or fitness equipment or food or something.

If you transact with PayPal on a regular basis, you may feel that the account operates much the same as any other bank or credit card account.  In many ways this is very true.  However, it is still an online payment facility and in some ways their security is tighter than other systems.

If you receive a large payment over $2,000 – $5,000, you can likely expect a temporary restriction on your account and a request for a personal or business credit check depending on your account type.  If you are a US citizen this will likely require the submission of your social security number or a tax identification number, a common attribute many professional bloggers use anyway.

Common Notification Message from PayPal for Credit Check

We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information about your business to allow us to provide uninterrupted service. We would like to return your account to regular standing as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

---

Why do I need to provide additional information about my account?
We require additional information about your account for the following reason(s):

Nov. 17, 2005: PayPal occasionally performs credit checks on selected account holders. Your account has been selected to go through this process. We must complete a credit review in order for the warning on your account to be lifted. In most cases, the account holder’s personal credit is analyzed using a Social Security number and an address likely to generate a match with a credit bureau. Please log into your PayPal account to provide this information. If an examination of your business credit would be more appropriate, please contact our customer service department to supply your Tax ID number.

PayPal like other banks is required to report large transactions to the US Government under SARS and several other systems and laws.  To complete these reports, they need your social security number.  The purpose of this is to give the United States Government enough information to track activity and insure that a person or group of persons are not engaging in money laundering activities.

This is a common activity that occurs when people buy cars, or large dollar items.  Credit checks help the company on the front line assess the likelihood of a potential credit freeze by other companies or banks as well.  This technique can be used when you apply for loans, credit, or even if you get a car insurance online quote.

ACT RIGHT AWAY!  Do Not Do Nothing

It is very important that you comply with this request as quickly as possible.  Otherwise, your restricted account could be locked and you could be prevented from receiving, sending or withdrawing money.

In addition, PayPal may also require you to ‘set your credit check address’.  You may recall setting a business address and or a home address.  This is an additional section or button in the same section of PayPal, a new feature that can be triggered by random or by large transactions.

PayPal Limits Transaction Sizes to No More Than $10,000

If you are a blogger, writer, or someone that likes to create any type of digital media on the Internet. I’d like you to be introduced to a project that I’ve been developing the summer. I am creating and compiling a series of instructions on profitable blogging at Softduit Media.

I’ve actually been doing this for about the last three years, and I’ve tended to help people through individual tutoring and mentoring sessions. Over the years I’ve gathered a lot of tools, a great deal of know-how, and the ability to teach anyone how to make money through digital media online.

I’m not offering a get rich quick scheme, and I do not charge for my services. This is free. It benefits directly from helping people to grow their skills in this area in improving the network of bloggers, writers, Podcasters, and video bloggers working on the Internet. I’m trying to make the pie bigger, stronger and a whole lot tastier.

I’ve compiled some of the initial tutorials for beginner and intermediate levels, and within two weeks I will be launching the advanced section of the site which will offer a number of in-depth tutorials and studies introducing students to all sorts of tips and tools and services that can make you money on a regular basis.

I’m not promising anyone free Caribbean cruises nor an early retirement, but you can make a comfortable living doing this, and you don’t have to be a web celebrity to achieve success. From what I’ve seen, this can work for anyone on the Internet with half a brain, the ability to put useful thoughts together, and especially for people that have strong creative tendencies.

I would say that any idiot could do this, but that’s not my goal. I don’t want to help the idiots on the Internet to make money.  There are too many of them already there, but I do want to help people bring something useful to the table and actually make the Internet a better place, more entertaining, more informative, more useful or whatever it is that you do or can add to this great pie.

That was the message I received yesterday in my inbox from Chitika.  They previously offer website and bloggers the options of displaying ads that historically include products.  So a person might see an ad for a printer somewhere, click the ad and go buy it.  The website owner would benefit from this on a cpc basis typically.

That was great if you ran say a gadget blog or a auto blog, but if you wrote a political blog or a finance blog it was pretty useless.

Well these days they are offering up a new and improved advertisement market that caters to websites of all shapes, sizes and topics from travel to finance, sports and more.

So now if you have a topical blog about places or concepts, they might have a performing ad that could make a good fit in your monetization scheme.  They still seem to not be a contextual advertising company like Google and Google’s adsense program, so theoretically the two programs should play nice together without violating either set of terms of service.

So if you are running a diet and exercise blog, you might pick up some more revenue from advertisements for Phentermine no prescription as opposed to trying to convert your readers on the latest MP3 player from some techie shopping site. It does seem like an improvement, and as the ad channel fills up more it will probably be a better fit. The trick with these things is to strike while the new ads are hot, but not too soon before the new ad formats are fully tested.

Good luck and hopefully you will benefit from more revenue. I say that not wanting the internet to be spammier, but I do want more people on the internet to be more succesful so they can afford to put more time and attention into generating better and more content.

This week I had an eye opening experience.  I met a very successful website owner and internet personality that is not being compensated well for their work or content.  I won’t name names or provide URLs for this example as I myself am still trying to understand what has gone wrong with this specific business model.

I can take a look at consumer products, site unseen sometimes and spot the flaw.  Such as in a wireless home security product from ademco.  Having worked in intelligence, I can tell you that the easy way to defeat the system is by jamming the signal.  However, with the internet, things are not always as obvious.

The thing about this broken business is that the site has very very high numbers in terms of visitors and subscribers.  The problem is that the owner of the site does not own their revenue stream.  They own the site, but they work through a network that sells ads for them along with other site owners.  That network then pays the website owner a monthly contract amount for being part of the network.

Fixed pay for adjustable revenue

That may sound like security to web owners that do not want to ride an advertising and revenue roller coaster, but consider what happens when you start off small and your site gets big.  When the site blows up with fame, you do not receive the rewards.  You are still locked down at the fixed contract rate from the days when you were a small nobody.

So the problem becomes what to do when you are a content producer that is being underpaid?

The obvious answer is to renegotiate or jump ship.

That’s not an easy decision to make under the best circumstances and in this case even tougher.  The company managing the ads and the revenue also manage and hold the metrics of the site performance.  They essentially are holding the purse strings and the scale measuring the gold dust.  To jump ship or renegotiate, or just keep your accountants honest, website owners and content producers have to have access to and control over their metrics.

Anything less than that and you are hamstrung when it comes time to make a decision.  In this case the situation is one where the content producer, relies on them for salary, for promotion of their site, for ad sales, and metrics.  When things need to be promoted more heavily, support is not there.  When earnings are higher, bigger compensation is not there.  When ad sales slip, the sales team is not responsible, and in many cases other content producers and their needs dictate and drive when things happen at a network level, leaving the content producer of my case out of the loop.

It goes to show that when you trade security for control, you may benefit in the short term but in the long term its very difficult to get the control back and that in turn makes security a bit of a myth.  If a network leverages your site to push other sites, that does not help you.  In fact, if the network can not maximize results on your site, they are probably failing to do so on other sites in the network and that is bad for business and will probably be the unraveling of the network ultimately and the end of nice safe checks.

My advice, keep your own controls, keep your metrics, know your risk in reality for what it is and manage it.  Don’t hide behind the skirts of a network that doesn’t really protect you at all.

Here’s a quick little video (about 18 seconds or so) that shows a new concept Google has been testing for about a week or so (based on the reports I have read).

I managed to capture a quick video example of how the scroll options work with this new ad arrangement from Google.

I have to admit, that I am skeptical about just how well this format might work with adwords text links or even banners for that matter.

I could see some potential where people see an ad that is close to what they are looking for and want to scroll through other options like they might in a Google search engine search, but let’s be real for a second.  Adsense ads are not search engine results so if you read an article about a flat panel tv and see an adsense ad that mentions tv wall mount and you think, ‘hmmm wonder how much that costs?’ would you really consider scrolling through your advertising options before clicking on an ad?

Maybe you would, but I suspect most people would just go straight to Google search and look for relevant results.