Barry Diller’s IAC Tries Out Content Farming [Updated]

IAC-owned comparative shopping site Pronto, Inc has quietly launched a content farm called The Writer’s Network, reports Ad Age.

The Writer’s Network currently has about 45 writers authoring “how to” articles on home and garden topics. The site says they will add finance, travel, parenting and more in 2011. The articles are 300 to 1000 words long and pay between $10 and $25 into the writer’s PayPal account. Unlike Demand Media, which has search-driven assignments, The Writer’s Network content appears to be fed to Home and Garden Ideas, a service content site with relevant shopping along the bottom (“How to Throw a Hipster Party” is particularly useful) owned by Pronto, Inc. One of The Writer’s Network featured writers, Jordanna Fraiberg, is a Young Adult novelist and former film executive.

UPDATE: An IAC rep e-mailed to clarify that The Writer’s Network is still a “small testing site to drive traffic acquisition for Pronto.”

@kstoeffel | kstoeffel@observer.com