The great thing about Web2.0 is that everyone can participate. Everyone can add to the content. But does everyone get to make money?
Consider three scenarios:
Amazon, a commercial marketplace, with users adding reviews and ratings. Users don't get anything for adding a review, Amazon does. (Of course, users get to read other people's reviews, and make informed decisions. A bit like Pay it Forward, but I will leave the larger implications to another post.)
Another site, with a lot of user generated content, displays ads to generate revenue. Again the users get to participate in generating the content, but not in the earnings.
Yet another site, gets users to generate lots of content and eye-balls, and waits to cash out in a sale to a larger player. Again the users who generated the content in the first place lose out.
Put micro-payments into place, along with all its shortcomings (!), and let everyone participate in the earnings, including the people who put those apps up, as brokers. Of course micro-payments is not going to be a panacea, but it is worth taking the web in that direction.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Micro-payments: An Alternate to Adsense?
The success of the web has been it's being predominantly free. And with web2.0 coming in, it is more free than ever before. And how can you beat a craigslist, which is almost 100% free.
But the larger question is how sustainable is it? We will revisit Craigslist in a later post, and build a case around that, too - but later.
For now I wish to tackle the problem , as i perceive, of the business model of most web2.0 companies based on sweat, free content, and adsense revenue. Generate lots of traffic, and get people to go to other sites, so that you can make money. And people probably go to other sites that are similar. And I think this model is fundamentally flawed.
So I would like to turn the whole model on it's head. I would like to make the whole content paid. Yes. All content.
The whole web would work on micro payments. Visit a site, read a page - pay $0.001 cent or some such. The amount you pay could depend on user ratings, frequently visited, etc (just the way a lot of web2.0 works).
Of course there are tonnes of problems implementing such a system - has the page been read, should children not browse the net, payment a function of time spent on the page, cost of implementing micro-payments more than the payments, what is the payment aggregator (each of this will potentially become a post) - but it is not flawed like the model of getting people to go away from your shop, if you wish to make any money.
But the larger question is how sustainable is it? We will revisit Craigslist in a later post, and build a case around that, too - but later.
For now I wish to tackle the problem , as i perceive, of the business model of most web2.0 companies based on sweat, free content, and adsense revenue. Generate lots of traffic, and get people to go to other sites, so that you can make money. And people probably go to other sites that are similar. And I think this model is fundamentally flawed.
So I would like to turn the whole model on it's head. I would like to make the whole content paid. Yes. All content.
The whole web would work on micro payments. Visit a site, read a page - pay $0.001 cent or some such. The amount you pay could depend on user ratings, frequently visited, etc (just the way a lot of web2.0 works).
Of course there are tonnes of problems implementing such a system - has the page been read, should children not browse the net, payment a function of time spent on the page, cost of implementing micro-payments more than the payments, what is the payment aggregator (each of this will potentially become a post) - but it is not flawed like the model of getting people to go away from your shop, if you wish to make any money.
Why Adsense is Flawed
You wish to make money. Sure.
You can write. So you decide to be a journalist. You wish to write and be paid for it. That is understandable.
So you write. Publish it on the web. Popularize it, get people to come to your blog. Then you pray that they go away, so that you can make money. This is the difficult part.
Well that is how adsense works! You make money when people go away from what you have to offer!!
Now, we know Google has made tonnes of money out of this, and there are businesses that are making a lot of money purely out of this sort of thing. And every now and then I come across people whose whole business model is to depend on adsense to make money, and some of them are simply being naive.
To me, something like adsense is flawed at the roots, and would be replaced by something better in a few years. Again, to stick my neck out, adsense would go when all content is paid - but that is for a later post.
My Do's and Dont's about adsense:
You can write. So you decide to be a journalist. You wish to write and be paid for it. That is understandable.
So you write. Publish it on the web. Popularize it, get people to come to your blog. Then you pray that they go away, so that you can make money. This is the difficult part.
Well that is how adsense works! You make money when people go away from what you have to offer!!
Now, we know Google has made tonnes of money out of this, and there are businesses that are making a lot of money purely out of this sort of thing. And every now and then I come across people whose whole business model is to depend on adsense to make money, and some of them are simply being naive.
To me, something like adsense is flawed at the roots, and would be replaced by something better in a few years. Again, to stick my neck out, adsense would go when all content is paid - but that is for a later post.
My Do's and Dont's about adsense:
- If you have loyal readership, and are sure that readers will comeback, even if they go away, use adsense.
- Use adsense when it is logical for users to explore further before they make a decision, or you have nothing more to offer.
- Dont distract users from your main content.
- Let adsense look distinctly different from the look and feel of your site (not sure, but gut-sense).
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
SMS Yourself to Salvation
"Reach out to God! Make offering(Rs 10-Rs 150) via SMS! Sms to 64655 @ Rs4/msg. ..."
This is a message I got a couple of weeks ago. So the world has evolved from the days when pujas could be offered on the net!
Salvation is just an SMS away. What else? Marriage? "I do." Simple enough to SMS. Divorce? "Talaq. Talaq. Talaq." Not tough.
How about sex? Why not? Here is what a marketing message (sms) might look like - "Reach out to the most beautiful women in Kasauli. Choose from: Meena: Rs 500. Munni: Rs 750. Mira: Rs 1000. SMS 66666 @ Rs4/msg. Our trusted associates with have safe sex with your chosen one. It is the thought that matters."
Philosophers, seers and saints would love this. Let everything, save eating, happen from a distance. Disengage from the worldly matters. Let SMS be the way to distance yourself from reality, and lead you to salvation. Of course, marketers would love this too!
This is a message I got a couple of weeks ago. So the world has evolved from the days when pujas could be offered on the net!
Salvation is just an SMS away. What else? Marriage? "I do." Simple enough to SMS. Divorce? "Talaq. Talaq. Talaq." Not tough.
How about sex? Why not? Here is what a marketing message (sms) might look like - "Reach out to the most beautiful women in Kasauli. Choose from: Meena: Rs 500. Munni: Rs 750. Mira: Rs 1000. SMS
Philosophers, seers and saints would love this. Let everything, save eating, happen from a distance. Disengage from the worldly matters. Let SMS be the way to distance yourself from reality, and lead you to salvation. Of course, marketers would love this too!
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