4 ms·

Here's my idea for all these publications. Make it possible for paying subscribers to post links to articles that are free to anyone if they click through. That

Here's my idea for all these publications. Make it possible for paying subscribers to post links to articles that are free to anyone if they click through. That increases the value of being a paid subscriber way beyond just being able to read the article. They can post to Twitter/FB and people will (eventually) know they can read whatever that person posts. Ultimately the WSJ/WashPo/Atlantic could gamify it and give reduced costs or even money back to the most prolific people on social media. Turn their readers into affiliates. Get more readers. Get more subscribers.

jMyles 9y ago
Seems like an odd incentive structure: You have to pay to be able to post free links, but then you get paid if you do it a lot?
- munchbunny 9y ago
  I see it more as a matter that some people read to actively source news, but not everyone does. These people are likely origin points for sharing news more broadly, so you want to make it easy for those key users to generate potential traffic for new customer acquisition. I think the problem is that it's a bit easy to exploit, and articles from the major publications get shared enough anyway that I don't think giving everyone the ability to "sample" really changes the decision to buy.
- AnthonyMouse 9y ago
  > Seems like an odd incentive structure: You have to pay to be able to post free links, but then you get paid if you do it a lot? It's almost like the relationship the RIAA has had with radio stations. The stations have to pay to license the music they play and then the RIAA member companies orchestrate payola schemes where they pay the radio stations to play their songs.
acomjean 9y ago
Linux weekly news[1] does this, they call them subscriber links. [1] http://lwn.net http://lwn.net. You see these links posted on hacker news from time to time From the site: The "subscriber link" mechanism allows an LWN.net subscriber to generate a special URL for a subscription-only article. That URL can then be given to others, who will be able to access the article regardless of whether they are subscribed. This feature is made available as a service to LWN subscribers, and in the hope that they will use it to spread the word about their favorite LWN articles. If this feature is abused, it will hurt LWN's subscription revenues and defeat the whole point. Subscriber links may go away if that comes about.
- marrone12 9y ago
  "The Information" does this too.

jMyles 9y ago

Seems like an odd incentive structure: You have to pay to be able to post free links, but then you get paid if you do it a lot?

munchbunny 9y ago
I see it more as a matter that some people read to actively source news, but not everyone does. These people are likely origin points for sharing news more broadly, so you want to make it easy for those key users to generate potential traffic for new customer acquisition. I think the problem is that it's a bit easy to exploit, and articles from the major publications get shared enough anyway that I don't think giving everyone the ability to "sample" really changes the decision to buy.
AnthonyMouse 9y ago
> Seems like an odd incentive structure: You have to pay to be able to post free links, but then you get paid if you do it a lot? It's almost like the relationship the RIAA has had with radio stations. The stations have to pay to license the music they play and then the RIAA member companies orchestrate payola schemes where they pay the radio stations to play their songs.

acomjean 9y ago

Linux weekly news[1] does this, they call them subscriber links. [1] http://lwn.net http://lwn.net. You see these links posted on hacker news from time to time From the site: The "subscriber link" mechanism allows an LWN.net subscriber to generate a special URL for a subscription-only article. That URL can then be given to others, who will be able to access the article regardless of whether they are subscribed. This feature is made available as a service to LWN subscribers, and in the hope that they will use it to spread the word about their favorite LWN articles. If this feature is abused, it will hurt LWN's subscription revenues and defeat the whole point. Subscriber links may go away if that comes about.

marrone12 9y ago
"The Information" does this too.