Directory startup defends callout for free writers
An agency which is advertising for unpaid interns to write web articles for its online directory startup has defended its business practices as a chance for “passionate writers to get their name out there”.
The ad – placed on Mumbrella’s free jobs board by digital agency If You Build It – seeks to find people willing to write 300 word articles about local companies it can put on its new site Yokel. It was originally posted in the interns section and after questions were raised by Mumbrella, the agency asked to switch it to the freelance section, saying it had “accidentally” been put in the wrong category.
According to a blog post on If You Build It’s site, Yokel has build up more than 100 listings and is looking to grow.
The ad stated:
Here’s hoping these shonks go broke.
The Public Relations Institute of Australia has an excellent guide to employing interns – including pay rates. Its a value resource to help creative companies establish fair employment arrangements. Check out the website http://www.pria.com.au
Just sent them an email…
Hi Emma
It’s time for lunch. Why don’t you run down to Enmore Rd and ask one of the cafes to make you lunch. Then you could sit and eat the lot but if you decide it doesn’t rock, don’t pay!
I’m sure they’d be more than happy to give it to you for free. Just to get their name out there!
Don’t pay your phone bill, electricity or gas bill either. The supermarket or service station
can all wait until you think they rock. Then you can pay them or not ….if they don’t rock!
After all, each of these people should be absolutely delirious that you have even considered to grace them with your presence. And you ripping them off is perfectly OK.
What’s that? The police are at the door. Accusing you of stealing!
It could be time for you to rock! Breaking some whilst you serve some time!
Awesome!
Cheers
No Such Thing As a Free Lunch
well, i certainly hope their PR staff earn an actual wage…those guys have a power of work ahead.
clearly the way to fix the media industry is australia is to exploit the graduates desperate enough to work for free. Can’t pay bills with a “Google Authorship link”
I wouldn’t worry Jack B Nimble, when was the last time there was a successful new entrant to the online business directory market?
‘Yokel’ will be deadpool’d within six months. They’re not only late to the party; they didn’t bring a bottle, either.
Pathetic.
If it’s good enough to use, it’s good enough to pay for.
Here’s a radical thought: why not ask them to do it for free, give them a trackable short-code and then remunerate them if they share it through their social media channels on a pay-per-click basis? Everyone wins then.
I write for MYOB and they pay a base plus sharing fees. Works great.
Not that we cater to the same market but I feel compelled to point out that this mob is in no way linked to the Local Yokel blog at the Local Government Association of Queensland.
Hey Craig why not register Yokel.com.au it’s available. Yokel.com is for sale as well.
I’m wondering if the founders Googled “yokel” before they named it. They are certainly treating their writers like yokels
Maybe pay them for the first one and if it rocks, pay them for the second one. If it doesn’t rock then well you don’t need to pay them again
Nice one Beth, ‘Other people are doing it so it’s ok if we do it too’.
I assume you’re working for nothing Beth? Rocking those track pants to work every day, because you can’t afford anything else to wear. Sleeping in the spare room at mum and dad’s place. Eating pot noodles for two meals a day. Oh yes, Beth. You’re rocking it.
Whoever designed their website should be shot. Fails on all UX levels and I am not a web developer.
Trully appalling layout and design and very difficult to navigate.
Epic FAIL.
Wow! I was always such a fan of the Mumbrella community but these replies prove me so wrong.
It strikes me that what Hotfrog and Truelocal started around 10 years ago, these guys are trying to achieve today? (Who can forget the good ole yellow pages, which is pretty much dead and instead is now reselling google and websites to their client base before the client base dries up forever…)
Has somebody just woken up from a long sleep and hasn’t heard about all the nasty Google algo changes that have deemed local directories ‘dead’? Plus of course the fact that local businesses can build their own websites, social media pages and market without the need for a 3rd party directory?
.NET.au too – wow this is prehistoric. So, so ancient. It is a blast from the past and would have been a game changer 15 years ago for sure…
I am truly scratching my head?
@Anna
It’s not 2004 for crying out aloud. This website is not only promoting slave labour, it also appears to be a very poorly thought out business model. Unless it is a grab for data? More fool any business owner who lists their details on Yokel. Gooday!
I have to say that while the ad could have been worded better, it’s not a complete violation. The industry’s a catch 22; impossible to get a job without experience and impossible to get experience without a job.
‘Contributing’ may not be ideal but SHOW me a working model that is. And when that happens, unemployed people like us wont be ranting on forums, we’d be working.
Thank you @david. At last a semblance to a voice of reason. I want to add that I applied for this position, was responded to immediately and I was asked what my goals were in being a part of it.
The team’s expectations were simple and honest and more to the point far from the ridiculous picture that’s been painted here.
Being a young journalist my self I took a moment to look into the author’s history. Guess what? She ran a blog that relied on free contributors for a few years before working for Mumbrella.
This is a sad and cheap attempt at content and meeting a quota, nothing more. Why it has everyone so excited is another matter all together. I guess being unemployed is frustrating. 🙂