TripAdvisor Sued: Price of Internet Content to Skyrocket?

And many companies have made bundles of money by figuring out ways to use written content to lure consumers to their websites. Part of the profit equation has been the relatively low cost companies have to pay writers for content; a $5 per thousand clicks Google advertisement gives you a very slim profit margin if you are paying a staff of full-time writers.

But the cost of content might be on the verge of skyrocketing.

The Globe reports that a former content editor has filed suit against Newton-based TripAdvisor.com, alleging that the company employed her illegally as a contract laborer. And the suit might go class-action.

Deirdre Kiely of Foxborough, who worked for TripAdvisor from 2003 to 2006, filed the suit on July 2. She claims that Massachusetts law requires companies to offer employee level pay and benefits to workers whose jobs are central to the company's business.

TripAdvisor uses hotel reviews and travel advice to steer consumers toward purchasing airline tickets, hotel reservations, and other services from TripAdvisor's partner, Expedia.com.

The suit recalls a case in the 1990s when long-term temporary workers at Microsoft successfully sued for back benefits. The so-called "permatemps" case kept internet companies from relying on contract labor. But the surge in content-based marketing websites has sent internet companies back to the contractor model.

Could this be a long-overdue revolt that will change the way the content business works? Writers and editors on the internet do not enjoy the kind union protections that their counterparts in the newspaper and copywriting industries have long relied upon. Will this legal challenge change the business model for content-based websites? Or will the craze for user-generated content make full-time, paid writers irrelevant on the internet?

[Boston Globe]

Image of the TripAdvisor owl strong-arming a young person at ROFLCon by C. Fernsebner.