The Problem:
As the Internet becomes more sophisticated, people are demanding more and more from it, whether that's access to information, entertainment and social networking, gaming, forums, video and photo sharing, online banking, stock trading, and many other things that haven't been thought of yet.
But in turn, the Internet is demanding just as much back from you in the form of your time, by making you sit through commercials before watching a video, or wasting your time closing pop up ads over and over before being able to access the content you wanted, or having you give access to your personal information, friends lists, or other information, which is then sold to data mining companies or used to target advertising to your interests, making someone, somewhere a lot of money!
The point is, the Internet is not free anymore. You're paying for it one way or another and it's only going to get worse, more intrusive, and harder to access what you want on the Internet. Content providers are looking for any way they can to make money from their content, and up to now advertising and data mining have been the most lucrative forms of generating income. And they figure, the more hoops they can get you to jump through before giving you access to the content you want, or the more information they can squeeze out of you, the more money they make.
The Solution:
Monetize the Internet with micropayments.
So how are micropayments going to make the Internet better and not worse? Well, you've heard the expression "Vote with your wallet"? If a micropayment system is put in place where people have to pay for content on an ala carte' basis like 2 cents to access a news article, or 3 cents to read a comic, etc., a couple things are going to happen.
The first thing that's going to happen is that websites are going to be much more competitive with each other to attract visitors, which will cause them to be more sensitive to their visitors needs, offer more options, and offer better content. Just like with brick and mortar stores, the customer will be king because now there's real money on the line, whereas with free Internet it's a numbers game of getting a lot of traffic so maybe 2 or 3% of your visitors will click on your banner ads and get you a penny or two. Now 90% of your visitors are potential income, and getting a penny or two from 90% of your visitors compared to only 2 or 3% before is a huge income leap!
But, it comes with a catch. If web surfers have to start shelling out their hard-earned money for Internet content, even if it's only a penny here and a penny there, they're going to be a lot more discriminating about who they give that penny too! They're not going to put up with the same abuse of being bombarded by advertising or jumping through hoops to be able to access content that they did before. They will want easily accessible, high quality content, at a reasonable price. And if you don't provide it, someone else will. And it's those websites that will become the winners on the new Internet.
One of the most exciting aspects of having an ala carte' Internet is breathing new life back into newspapers and magazines that have moved online, especially small local newspapers that have a hard time securing advertisers. Not everyone wants to get all their news from large news conglomerates, and most people are still interested in what's going on in their communities, which is where local newspapers play an important role. Micropayments would give small newspapers the ability to generate income from their articles and features and even their archives that they wouldn't have been able to do before. Same goes with magazines, especially niche magazines that are about unique subjects, that may have a small but dedicated following.
Who else can benefit from an ala carte' Internet ? Cartoonists and animators, independent filmmakers, musicians, people that make tutorials, sell knitting patterns, writers, bloggers, porn sites, poets, game developers, app developers, betting picks, niche websites, the list is almost unlimited.
As I go along, I detail how different people can use micropayments with their content, and why it will make for a better Internet in the long run.
Laters!
Geoff
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