2 ms·

> Not even sure how newspapers would be able to figure out that all those readers they are not seeing is because they don’t take micropayments. By interacting

> Not even sure how newspapers would be able to figure out that all those readers they are not seeing is because they don’t take micropayments. By interacting with their users. I’ve written to newspapers in the past asking about their subscription. I remember one ocassion I did it with 2 newspapers. One replied they’d look and I never heard back. The other didn’t reply. If I write asking if there’s a way to use micro donations and there isn’t or they haven’t heard about that, it might be a good idea to research it. Another is following news about competitors. ‘We’ve increased readership by x% since we added micro donations’. Or following industry conferences where it might be discussed.

SllX 8y ago
How does that square with not even spending your time or eyeballs or money on a particular site till they support micropayments? That was half of my point. Do the contents of your letters read “I like your website but I cannot in good conscience support you till you support this specific business model in which I might give you a penny, or perhaps as much as a nickel every time I read an article to support your operations and salaries?” This particular idea has been kicking around for at least a decade that I know of, and since I don’t tend to hear about most ideas when they’re new, most likely much much longer than that. At this point I’ve been forced to conclude the industry as a whole has probably looked into it and come to the conclusion it just isn’t worthwhile. Understandably, they would need some critical mass of readers and enough papers that matter supporting it and a particularly friendly credit card processing agreement in which the processor would need to be happy with a micropayment of a micropayment. Services like Spotify have somewhat paved the way as well and are demonstrating what the long tail of micropayments actually looks like.

SllX 8y ago

How does that square with not even spending your time or eyeballs or money on a particular site till they support micropayments? That was half of my point. Do the contents of your letters read “I like your website but I cannot in good conscience support you till you support this specific business model in which I might give you a penny, or perhaps as much as a nickel every time I read an article to support your operations and salaries?” This particular idea has been kicking around for at least a decade that I know of, and since I don’t tend to hear about most ideas when they’re new, most likely much much longer than that. At this point I’ve been forced to conclude the industry as a whole has probably looked into it and come to the conclusion it just isn’t worthwhile. Understandably, they would need some critical mass of readers and enough papers that matter supporting it and a particularly friendly credit card processing agreement in which the processor would need to be happy with a micropayment of a micropayment. Services like Spotify have somewhat paved the way as well and are demonstrating what the long tail of micropayments actually looks like.