File Sharing and profit!

Sharing photos and videos with others online is something that many of us do all the time; whether it's sharing your own files, or passing along other funny or interesting files we find on the web. The massive success of YouTube shows just how popular activities like these can be. The sites listed here encourage you to share picture and video files, and they will pay you for it - typically by sharing their ad revenue with you. The more popular your files are, the more you can earn.

Break is a video and picture site "for the guys". Of course, you are not required to be male to sign up, but the content is oriented towards the male 18-34 demographic (note: site contains some adult content). You can have a personal page on Break and use it to host your original pictures and videos. If Break likes your content enough to post it in a gallery or on the homepage, they will pay you as much as $25 for pictures and several hundred dollars for video.

Flixya was originally a video sharing site that has since expanded and now offers some additional features to its users, like hosting a photo gallery or a blog. They then allow you to place Google Adsense ads on your pages and receive 100% of the ad revenue. Sharing videos is still a primary focus of the site and Flixya allows you to submit videos from any site that allows embedded videos (such as Youtube).

Lulu.tv is a media exchange site. You can sign up as a "Shareholder" and then upload your original video, music, or podcast files. The site offers unlimited hosting of your files, which can be as large as 200 MB each. Lulu.tv sets aside 80% of the site's entire ad revenue and divides it up among the Shareholders. The percentage of the share you receive is based on how much traffic your files generated.

MetaCafe is a very large video sharing network that allows you to upload original video. The site has a "Producer Rewards" program that allows you to be paid for your videos. MetaCafe must review the videos before they can appear on the site. After your video has been viewed at least 20,000 times, you will receive $5 per 1,000 views. Note that although MetaCafe does contain some adult content, they have a "family filter" option that is turned on by default.

MoneyTube is a video sharing site that shares its ad revenue with its users 50/50. Link to videos from other video sites such as Youtube or Google Videos and start earning. Not only will you receive a 50% share of the ad revenue for the videos you link to, but you can refer other people to Moneytube and receive 15% of the revenue from the videos they link to as well.

Revver is a video sharing network. Users can upload their original videos to Revver, which are then displayed on Revver with an ad attached to them. Ad revenue generated by a particular video is split 50/50 with the creator. Revver strongly encourages users to share the videos all over the net by emailing them to friends, posting them on other sites, and so on. You can even earn money by sharing videos from Revver that others have created.

Shareapic is a picture hosting service. You can host your pictures there for free (no adult content) and are then encouraged to share them elsewhere on the net. Every month, Shareapic shares its advertising revenue with users of the site. The more times your pictures were viewed, the more you can make - the exact amount varies from month to month. If you are signed up with Google Adsense, you can also place Adsense ads in your personal gallery to earn even more.

Share-A-Flick is the sister site of Shareapic. As you might have guessed, Share-A-Flick deals with video sharing. They do not offer video hosting themselves. Instead, you can submit video from any site that allows you to embed video onto a web page (such as Youtube and MySpace). Like Shareapic, they pay out a share of their advertising revenue to their users each month.

VuMe (short for View Me, and formerly known as Eefoof) is a media sharing site. You upload your original video, images, or audio clips. VuMe inserts ads onto your pages or at the end of your video clips. You then earn $3.00 for every 1,000 hits your files receive. Users of VuMe retain the rights to everything that they upload.

Paid Surveys

Paid surveys are becoming a very popular way to make extra money online. The sites that provide these surveys are owned or contracted by market research companies. These companies value your opinion and are willing to pay you for spending some time filling out surveys about various products.

New to online surveys? Here are some tips:

After you sign up with a survey site you will be asked give some demographic information about yourself, and possibly to take a few unpaid surveys. These are usually called profile surveys. Not all survey sites have profile surveys, but if they are available you should fill them out as soon as possible. Doing so will help you later to qualify for more paid surveys.

Once in a while you will receive a survey invitation in your email. Some sites may send you several invitations per week, while others may send invites once a month or less. If you accept the invitation, you will first be given a screener, which is a few short questions to see if you qualify for the full survey. If you qualify, you can expect to spend from 5 to 20 minutes filling out the survey.

The amount paid for a survey varies widely - $1-$5 for typical surveys, to as much as $50 or more for highly specialized surveys. Most survey sites do not pay you directly after completing each survey, but instead send you a total payment after you have reached a certain amount. This amount is known as the minimum cashout.

Top sites:

American Consumer Opinion sends several screeners each month. If you qualify for the full survey, you will be paid for every single survey you complete - there is no minimum amount you must reach before you can cash out. Additionally, all members of American Consumer Opinion are entered automatically into a monthly cash drawing without having to do anything extra, which makes it very worth your while to sign up.

Choozz is an entertainment survey site specializing in the topics of music, movies, and games. Choozz requires its users to be between 13 and 35 years old. Each survey on Choozz has a different type of incentive - some offer cash rewards, while others offer chances to win prizes or entries into their $25,000 sweepstakes.

Ciao! Surveys is an international survey site now owned by Greenfield Online, which is also listed in this section. It is available to ages 14 and up and all over the world, except in the United States and Canada - residents of these two countries should sign up at Greenfield's main site. Ciao has a low minimum cashout of just $5.00, so you will not have to complete many surveys before you can get paid.

ClickIQ features a paid survey panel called e/visor that is available to US residents only. ClickIQ rewards users with "IQPoints" for taking surveys, with 100 points equal to $1.00. Surveys generally offer 150 points for completing, or a smaller number of points if you do not qualify for the full survey. ClickIQ has a relatively high minimum cashout of $25.00. Like many other survey sites, you can also earn entries into sweepstakes for participating.

Esearch is one of the highest paying survey sites on average. However, they send a very small number of survey invitations - typically just one or two per month. There are no profile surveys to fill out, so participation is easy, making Esearch a very good site to sign up with alongside other survey sites. Besides cash, Esearch also offers rewards such as gift certificates for completed surveys.

Global Opinion Panels (also known as Synovate) offers points for completed surveys, with 1,000 points equal to $1. Most surveys offer several thousand points or more for completing, and there is a low minimum cashout of just $5.00. Global Opinion Panels also provides the option of having samples of products mailed to you, and then being paid simply for answering a survey about the product. This is entirely optional. Global Opinion Panels is available in the US only.

Global Test Market is a long running site that compensates well for its surveys. Users are rewarded for every single survey with "MarketPoints" which are then turned in for cash, at a rate of 20 MarketPoints = $1.00. Most surveys offer anywhere from 50 to several hundred MarketPoints for completing, and you will receive some points even if you do not qualify for a particular survey. You can also refer your friends via email for more points.

Greenfield Online () features a large number of surveys for members to take at most times, although not all surveys are for cash. Many of Greenfield's surveys are for entries into their cash drawings, of which there are several per month. If you do not qualify for a paid survey, you will still receive entries into the drawings simply for filling out the screener. Greenfield Online is available in the US and Canada only. If you live elsewhere, you should visit Greenfield's sister site: Ciao Surveys (listed earlier in this section).

HCDSurveys is a survey panel by HCD Research that rewards its users with points for every survey they complete. 100 points are equal to $1 and the minimum cashout is $10. Typical surveys on HCD pay out 100-500 points. HCD seems to send a small amount of surveys per month compared to other sites, but as always the actual number of invites you get will depend a lot on your demographics.

Lightspeed Consumer Panel sends a relatively large number of invites for paid surveys, although compensation is slightly lower on average than some of the other survey sites. Users receive "Lightspeed Points" for completing surveys - these can be redeemed for cash or other prizes if you choose. In addition, you receive an entry into their $5,000 drawing for each survey whether you qualify for the full survey or not. Lightspeed Panel also features a number of mini-polls that you can fill out, which will earn you even more entries into their cash drawing.

MySurvey (previously known as NFO MySurvey) is another survey site that rewards its users with points that can later be redeemed for cash. On MySurvey, 100 points is equivalent to $1.00 and some surveys offer as much as 1,000 points for completing. MySurvey features a number of different sweepstakes as well. There is a daily 10,000 point ($100) drawing for all members of the site - you only need to log on to their site to qualify for the drawing - and an additional $10,000 drawing awarded several times a year. MySurvey is also known to occasionally award bonus points simply for good participation on their site.

Opinion Outpost rewards its users with points for taking surveys, with 10 points being equal to $1. Surveys typically pay between 10 and 100 points if you qualify, and you only need to accumulate 50 points before you can cash out. The site also has an option for you to answer surveys by phone for extra compensation. Note that this option is disabled by default, and you must specifically opt-in if you want to take part, so you should not worry about receiving unwanted phone calls. Available in the US and Canada only.

Planet Pulse is another survey site that uses the familiar system of rewarding its users with points, which are called "Pulses" on their site. 100 Pulses is equal to $1.00 and some surveys offer as much as 5,000 Pulses ($50.00), though those are rare. Typical survey payouts are in line with most of the other paid survey sites, and you also get a small amount of Pulses even if you do not qualify for a full survey after filling out the screener. Planet Pulse also has a referral program that rewards you with more Pulses every time someone you refer completes a survey.

SurveySavvy sends less survey invitations on average than the typical survey site, but compensation for surveys is generally very good. Even if you do not qualify for a particular survey, you are still entered into a monthly cash drawing. SurveySavvy also features a top notch referral program that pays well if you would like to refer others to their site.

SurveySpot is a good place to go if you really enjoy taking surveys. They generally send out multiple survey invitations per day. However, keep in mind that not all of their surveys are paid surveys. The majority of their surveys will earn you entries into their $25,000 sweepstakes. You are also entered into the sweepstakes every time you do not qualify for a paid survey. Also, you can log on to their site and find a small list of surveys to choose from at almost any time each day. Available in the US, Canada, and UK only.

YouGov Panel is a survey site that specializes in political opinion polls. The YouGov Panel is primarily for the UK. However, they provide two additional sites - YouGovAmerica for US members, and YouGovME for those in the Middle East. YouGov Panel pays out around $1-$2 per poll. One drawback is that they have a high minimum cashout of $50.00.

Your2Cents offers a few extra bonuses over typical survey sites. First, they reward you just for filling out your profile surveys - $1 each. They also have a few other types of surveys -text based surveys that you can receive on your cell phone, and telephone based surveys. These offer extra incentives compared to the standard web based surveys. Note that these extra surveys are entirely optional. Your2Cents is available in the US and Canada only.