Netscape reveals paid social bookmarkers

Netscape has revealed the first 10 paid contributors to its recently launched social news site.

The users, called Netscape Navigators, will be paid a monthly fee for submitting items to the Netscape site.

Netscape relaunched as community news site, similar to Digg, in June.

The new Netscape is being run by Jason Calacanis, who sold his company Weblogs Inc to AOL last year. Last month, Calacanis made an offer on his blog to pay the top users of rival social news sites $1,000 a month if they switch to Netscape.

The Navigators include three users from Digg – currently ranked one, three and 11. Calacanis also claims to have hired the number one users from Newsvine and Reddit. The remaining Navigators are existing Weblogs Inc employees.

Calacanis stressed that this was still an experiment, but he hoped "the first 10 Navigators do such an amazing job that we can extend our offer out to other members of the Digg, Newsvine, and Reddit top 10."

For users wishing to participate in the future, he said: "The best thing you can do to get on our radar and have a chance of getting a gig is to participate in the new Netscape."

Community news sites rely on members to submit stories they find on the web to the service. Any web page can be added to the site, and users vote on ones they find interesting.

The more votes an item receives, the nearer the top of the list it appears. Registered users can also discuss items on the site by submitting comments.

The relaunced portal has been harshly criticised by existing members, many of whom preferred the previous version which carried news stories selected by editors, not the community.