Odyssey (website)

Last updated
Odyssey
Odyssey online.png
Type of site
OwnerOdyssey Media Group, Inc.
Key people
  • Evan Burns (co-founder and executive chairman)
  • Adrian France (co-founder)
URL Official website
LaunchedJuly 16, 1999;24 years ago (1999-07-16) [1] (made public in 2000)

Odyssey (also known as The Odyssey or The Odyssey Online) is an American internet media company that operates based on a crowdsourced model, receiving articles from a base of thousands of volunteer authors and edited through their teams of volunteer, outsourced, and professional content strategists. [2] [3] [4] The platform produces material covering topics such as politics, sports, fashion, technology, entertainment, business, science, and health. [2]

Contents

Odyssey was co-founded by Evan Burns and Adrian France, two students from Indiana University, in 2014 under the Odyssey Media Group, Inc. [2] [5] [6] The platform's users consist mostly of university and college students in the age range of 18–28, and its viewers mostly come from each individual user's social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. [2] [5]

History

Origins

In 2009, Evan Burns and Adrian France co-founded Odyssey Media Group, Inc. It started as a print publication, called The Odyssey, at Indiana University with a focus on Greek life and campus issues not generally covered by the university's official news publication. [5]

Odyssey expanded its print publication to include Greek chapters at other universities, including San Diego State University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Alabama. [5]

Online transition and funding

In 2014, Odyssey was launched as an online publication and platform. [2] [5] In 2015 and early 2016, Odyssey received funding from various sources, totaling over $33 million. [2] [7]

In February 2017, Odyssey laid off 53 employees, a third of its staff. Evan Burns, the former CEO, was relieved of most major financial and management duties and was given the title executive chairman. [8]

Business overview

Odyssey's users are required to apply to start writing articles; the requirements for these authors include having a "unique perspective" and the ability to submit one piece per week. [2] [5]

Odyssey's writers are divided into communities, most of which are college and middle school campuses, though users are not required to attend as a student at those campuses. Instead, users who do not attend a college or university can write for the community which is located nearest to them. [5] Once a user has been approved, they can start posting content on the platform. Most pieces of content are reviewed in a three-tiered editing system, starting with volunteer editors, then moving on to an outsourced set of freelance copy editors, and finally back to a set of paid content strategists, employed by Odyssey. [2] [5]

While users are not regularly paid, incentives for highly viewed articles are given. Writers have the opportunity to receive compensation for their articles based on the number of page view a contributor generates.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. ↑ "TheOdysseyOnline.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools". WHOIS . Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 McAlone, Nathan (April 27, 2016). "A Startup That Just Raised $25 Million Is Like a College Newspaper on Steroids — and It's Racking Up 30 Million Uniques a Month". Business Insider . Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  3. ↑ "Odyssey Media Group, Inc.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg Markets . Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  4. ↑ Council, Jared (May 7, 2015). "Fast-Growing Local Media Firm Lands $3 Million in Funding". Indianapolis Business Journal . Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "This Is Odyssey". Odyssey. June 1, 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  6. ↑ Rooney, Jennifer. "Evan Burns, 27 – pg.3". Forbes . Archived from the original on 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  7. ↑ Dick, Gerry (September 12, 2016). "Odyssey Eyes 100 Million Users". InsideIndianaBusiness.com. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  8. ↑ Entis, Laura (June 3, 2017). "Inside Odyssey: The Decline of a College Media Empire". Fortune . Retrieved 2019-11-03.
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