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(Disclosure: I work for Google, but not in Ads) Micropayments are generally considered to be unviable for the general population (edit: business model wise, no

(Disclosure: I work for Google, but not in Ads) Micropayments are generally considered to be unviable for the general population (edit: business model wise, not tech). People are unwilling to pay even pennies for an article[0], because now users are facing the burden of choice, constantly thinking about how their browsing is racking up pennies. Not to mention, it boxes you into the pay-per-article model. Sites like Twitter or Facebook don't make sense in this world. I also think it adds significant barriers to entry, since micropayments aren't accessible, at all, to younger people, or the poor. Information should be as free as possible imo. If the market decides all ads should be blocked, then sure, things will change, but please don't pretend this won't have huge ramifications - things will not be remotely like they are today. For the news at least, it'll likely just be the expensive megacorp publications that survive. [0]https://www.cjr.org/analysis/reuters_digital_news_report.php https://www.cjr.org/analysis/reuters_digital_news_report.php

centimeter 6y ago
> micropayments aren't accessible, at all, to younger people, or the poor. This is a purely technological problem, not some sort of fundamental problem with the concept of micropayments. If advertising were really the only way young or poor people could generate value (this is not actually true, but for the sake of argument I'll go along with it), there could be dedicated websites where people intentionally look at ads in exchange for credit in their micropayment accounts (whatever that looks like, be it Bitcoin Lightning or some service from Square). Of course, once you phrase it this way, it becomes more clear that using ads as an indirect monetization strategy kind of doesn't make sense. It's better to have people perform mechanical turk style tasks (the monetization strategy of Captcha clones). As a parent, I'd be happy to put a few cents in my child's micropayment account so they don't have to get their brain flooded with garbage whenever they use the internet.
- cameronbrown 6y ago
  > People intentionally look at ads in exchange for credit in their micropayment accounts. > It's better to have people perform mechanical turk style tasks. I do like the idea, but I still think the barriers to entry are way too high. I'm worried that what will really happen is people will just download content via other means, which will start publishers off the deep end putting DRM into their webpages. Just look at Steam as an example - it very much reduced piracy rates because it lowered the barrier to entry. > As a parent, I'd be happy to put a few cents in my child's micropayment account so they don't have to get their brain flooded with garbage whenever they use the internet. Easy enough for someone living in a 1st world country. A child in Bangladesh who just wants to read about maths or video games however... Not to mention, your child is now directly linked to your bank account, whereas before you had pseudo-anonymity.
ViViDboarder 6y ago
> For the news at least, it'll likely just be the expensive megacorp publications that survive. Says the guy working for one of the largest megacorps that would be most impacted...
- cameronbrown 6y ago
  Totally fair point, but just because I work for a big company doesn't mean I'm not worried about smaller companies. I care about the health of the internet and have spent a lot of time thinking about advertising, micropayments, free speech etc.. this is an important topic for me.
jacquesm 6y ago
Micropayments were a solved problem in the 90's, Viditel did it and it worked like a charm.
abdullahkhalids 6y ago
> because now users are facing the burden of choice, constantly thinking about how their browsing is racking up pennies. That's how text messages started, where you paid something per message. Pretty soon everyone shifted to the package model, where you prepaid for a whole bunch of messages - more than you would use in a month.

centimeter 6y ago

> micropayments aren't accessible, at all, to younger people, or the poor. This is a purely technological problem, not some sort of fundamental problem with the concept of micropayments. If advertising were really the only way young or poor people could generate value (this is not actually true, but for the sake of argument I'll go along with it), there could be dedicated websites where people intentionally look at ads in exchange for credit in their micropayment accounts (whatever that looks like, be it Bitcoin Lightning or some service from Square). Of course, once you phrase it this way, it becomes more clear that using ads as an indirect monetization strategy kind of doesn't make sense. It's better to have people perform mechanical turk style tasks (the monetization strategy of Captcha clones). As a parent, I'd be happy to put a few cents in my child's micropayment account so they don't have to get their brain flooded with garbage whenever they use the internet.

cameronbrown 6y ago
> People intentionally look at ads in exchange for credit in their micropayment accounts. > It's better to have people perform mechanical turk style tasks. I do like the idea, but I still think the barriers to entry are way too high. I'm worried that what will really happen is people will just download content via other means, which will start publishers off the deep end putting DRM into their webpages. Just look at Steam as an example - it very much reduced piracy rates because it lowered the barrier to entry. > As a parent, I'd be happy to put a few cents in my child's micropayment account so they don't have to get their brain flooded with garbage whenever they use the internet. Easy enough for someone living in a 1st world country. A child in Bangladesh who just wants to read about maths or video games however... Not to mention, your child is now directly linked to your bank account, whereas before you had pseudo-anonymity.

ViViDboarder 6y ago

> For the news at least, it'll likely just be the expensive megacorp publications that survive. Says the guy working for one of the largest megacorps that would be most impacted...

cameronbrown 6y ago
Totally fair point, but just because I work for a big company doesn't mean I'm not worried about smaller companies. I care about the health of the internet and have spent a lot of time thinking about advertising, micropayments, free speech etc.. this is an important topic for me.

jacquesm 6y ago

Micropayments were a solved problem in the 90's, Viditel did it and it worked like a charm.

abdullahkhalids 6y ago

> because now users are facing the burden of choice, constantly thinking about how their browsing is racking up pennies. That's how text messages started, where you paid something per message. Pretty soon everyone shifted to the package model, where you prepaid for a whole bunch of messages - more than you would use in a month.