[untog]

But what is the actual benefit of the HuffPo platform? I don't think anyone sees "HuffPo Contributor" as a byline and considers the author to somehow be a legitimate writer. Nor does HuffPo give any percentage of ad revenue.

The best possible scenario is that readers get used to seeing your name on the Huffington Post, so they return for your future posts. Great. You don't get paid for them either.

Can you point out even one success from this platform? Someone who started out on HuffPo and has become successful?

[jebus989]

I don't think that's how the world works, you don't go from "I blogged at the Huffington Post" to President, but maybe it gets you a paid journalism gig, or a book deal, or it just fractionally helps the pagerank of your own site. Maybe it just looks slightly more interesting on a résumé than your wordpress blog. What do you expect to get out of writing about your interests in your free time?

Anecdotal example: I'm essentially a nobody but was approached by a literary agent after a HP blog post.

[gnaritas]

> I don't think anyone sees "HuffPo Contributor" as a byline and considers the author to somehow be a legitimate writer.

Well you'd be wrong; writing on there regularly lands people on political talk shows and helps them gain visibility as a writer.

[sixQuarks]

HuffPo should not be a writer's full-time job. It should be used as a platform to drive traffic/attention towards something else that you're working on.