Instead of paying for an app, this app pays you

MANILA, Philippines — Scoopshot works almost like Instagram, but unlike the famous photosharing social network, users of this application get paid for their photos and their images are published.

Finnish company P2S Media Group's nifty photography app, available on Google Play and the App Store, makes the digital age phenomenon crowdsourcing work for both mobile users who like taking photographs and media organizations looking for real-time and creative shots for their stories.

The app's multi-colored logo stands out among other apps on a mobile device that no matter how many apps are on the screen, it's easy to capture that precious scene on the go.

Once opened, it presents a well-laid out screen of images with a mail camera button below as well as four other main icons that are easy enough to interpret. It's pretty straightfoward.

What is exciting about Scoopshot is its move to open to the Philippine market and take advantage of the huge and growing smartphone user base in the country.

The company partnered with Philstar.com and The Philippine Star to offer mobile photographers opportunities to contribute to the daily reporting of news, entertainment, sports and lifestyle features while earning some money in the process.

Does it pay off? Reportedly there was a guy abroad who made $20,000 with the app. Not everyone will become a millionaire through it, but it might earn back the cost of that shiny new smartphone of yours plus your photos may have a place in the front pages.

It does not take away mobile users from their day jobs either, that even commuters can take newsworthy shots while on their way to work, or take a Philstar task that comes with a set price.

"Philstar.com, in partnership with Scoopshot, is taking citizen journalism a step further by giving its readers the opportunity to break news as it happens," Rose Anne Belmonte, chief operating officer of Philstar.com said.