4 ms·

We need some kind of internet-wide micropayment infrastructure that distributes a cent per website visited. Like the Spotify of the internet. I'd happily pay $1

We need some kind of internet-wide micropayment infrastructure that distributes a cent per website visited. Like the Spotify of the internet. I'd happily pay $10/month for such a service, with the proceeds going to Youtubers, Streamers, News outlets etc. Google or Facebook would seem in the perfect place to manage such a system, but they seem more intent on slinging ads.

visarga 8y ago
Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." People would spam and make junk content by the ton in order to catch some of that sweet web traffic money. Your eyeballs would be even more precious to the black hat SEOs.
- beerlord 8y ago
  Multiple implementations would be possible. Even begging me for 5c to read an article or watch a video would work. I would be able to make 200 such 'payments' per month. Its simple aggregation - a payment of 5c to a Youtuber would be swallowed up by credit card fees. But aggregated with millions of other people and done monthly (against a $10/m subscription for the end user, where they get a certain number of credits to use), and it becomes a much larger transaction where the fees become negligible.
cpbotha 8y ago
This is exactly what the Brave company is setting up. New chromium-based but privacy-focused browser, also called Brave. You pledge a certain amount per month (this is opt-in). The time spent by all Brave users determines how much of that pool of cash is distributed to all of the sites that they visit. See https://brave.com/ https://brave.com/ -- they have just released their beta and it's pretty amazing. Payments in the new beta are not yet live though.
- beerlord 8y ago
  Its a good idea - but its missing the killer feature which I think would be the ability to access certain news article (NYT etc) through micropayments. Right now it seems like giving money away for no recognition or reward.
- hennsen 8y ago
  If it requires installing something extra that you otherwise don’t need the mass market won’t join... Also in general the masses probably will never see why to pay 10 bucks or whatever for quality content as they are happy being served the other stuff... i mean, ads wouldn’t be so successful if there weren’t people viewing the crap content they are placed in... even less being clicked on. But there are thousands of people even responding to spam mails and sending money to some Nigerian Kings... Wait. How about paying quality content from these. I mean, just telling them your brother has a million in the bank and they just need to pay 1000 to get it out and be rewarded with 10% etc... instead of nothing as usual, they get quality content! Ok after reading too much of that they won’t do it anymore. Selfdestructing Business.
hennsen 8y ago
Isn’t that what flattr is about?

visarga 8y ago

Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." People would spam and make junk content by the ton in order to catch some of that sweet web traffic money. Your eyeballs would be even more precious to the black hat SEOs.

beerlord 8y ago
Multiple implementations would be possible. Even begging me for 5c to read an article or watch a video would work. I would be able to make 200 such 'payments' per month. Its simple aggregation - a payment of 5c to a Youtuber would be swallowed up by credit card fees. But aggregated with millions of other people and done monthly (against a $10/m subscription for the end user, where they get a certain number of credits to use), and it becomes a much larger transaction where the fees become negligible.

cpbotha 8y ago

This is exactly what the Brave company is setting up. New chromium-based but privacy-focused browser, also called Brave. You pledge a certain amount per month (this is opt-in). The time spent by all Brave users determines how much of that pool of cash is distributed to all of the sites that they visit. See https://brave.com/ https://brave.com/ -- they have just released their beta and it's pretty amazing. Payments in the new beta are not yet live though.

beerlord 8y ago
Its a good idea - but its missing the killer feature which I think would be the ability to access certain news article (NYT etc) through micropayments. Right now it seems like giving money away for no recognition or reward.
hennsen 8y ago
If it requires installing something extra that you otherwise don’t need the mass market won’t join... Also in general the masses probably will never see why to pay 10 bucks or whatever for quality content as they are happy being served the other stuff... i mean, ads wouldn’t be so successful if there weren’t people viewing the crap content they are placed in... even less being clicked on. But there are thousands of people even responding to spam mails and sending money to some Nigerian Kings... Wait. How about paying quality content from these. I mean, just telling them your brother has a million in the bank and they just need to pay 1000 to get it out and be rewarded with 10% etc... instead of nothing as usual, they get quality content! Ok after reading too much of that they won’t do it anymore. Selfdestructing Business.

hennsen 8y ago

Isn’t that what flattr is about?