The first part of your question is pretty easy to answer. There are a number of sites happy to host your articles, almost always for free (and some may even pay you!)
But the second part is the key: Getting people's opinions.
Personally, I think it comes down to two things:
- The quality of your articles.
- The community that already exists on the website.
If you're just interested in posting articles, you could just create your own blog or website. If the articles are good, and the headlines are catchy enough - you should be able to get some readers (and possibly fans) of your own.
You may have to market and promote your articles a little though.
But if you're interested in quick feedback and opinions, then it makes sense to use a site that already has a number of people on it.
One I personally enjoy most is
Medium.
Everytime I use the site, I seen to get hooked into it - so it's definitely a great place to be posting on.
The downside is it's still a relatively new platform, so the social network effect might not be as strong - but you'll get a dozen or so pageviews at very least.
The other hitch is that other users can only "recommend" your article - but won't be able to comment.
However, seeing as Medium is made by the same people that created Twitter, it's got very smooth integration with Twitter - and you can easily follow up with people that engage on your posts that way.
I should, at this point, declare a vested interest, as I'm currently working on growing The Newshub's social media following (you can follow us on
@thenewshub).
Although the site hasn't launched yet, I think it's certainly worth keeping an eye on, as the project is pretty unique.
They would like to create a news website created by users, and with a business model that allows the website to pay its contributors!
Initially, the plan is to pay the top 10% of contributors (based on traffic and engagement) a token $10 per article.
But if the idea can gain enough traction, then the plan is to increase the contributor payment so that the website creates a new model for the entire digital journalism industry. Exciting!
