Associated Content Clout Finally Means Something…More Money

For the uninitiated, Associated Content (AC) has this thing called “Clout.” It’s a 1-to-10 scale based on a combination of page views and number of articles published. Until now, it was just a shiny bead that people got excited about when it increased. It really didn’t give you anything. But that was then and this is now.

AC announced today, starting with the next monthly bonus payout (scheduled for 9 July 2008), content producers with a clout of 7 and higher will receive an additional bonus. The actual message from AC was light on details. They didn’t say specifically how much more or if there would be different tiers of bonuses for each clout level 7 through 10 or if it would be the same for all 7+ producers. All it said was “you’ll see a boost in your next Performance Payment.”

EDIT: Well, someone finally spelled it out. This is how the PV bonus breaks down:

Clout 1-6	$1.50
Clout 7	$1.55
Clout 8	$1.60
Clout 9	$1.75
Clout 10	$2.00

Finally clout means something other than a shiny bead on the dashboard! Here’s the official AC page explaining this.

Also pinned to the announcement was some pending changes to the report AC provides for page views and payments. Which means I’ll have to change the old converter tool which lets you change the report text into a csv file for your spreadsheet.

edit/update 25 June 2008