There are, I think, only 3 ways to pay for content online, with
- money (subs mostly)
- attention (ads primarily)
- identity (personal info, to be sold to marketers eventually)
Until 2015 or so, harvesting reader attention was the dominant way to pay.
1/8
Hence the push to figure out payments for blocks. 2/8
Many reasons for this but this is a good one (by @NickSzabo4 ) which says there is a lot of cognitive burden attached to micropayments. 3/8
nakamotoinstitute.org/static/docs/mi…
Surveys is one obvious way to harvest attention. Google Surveys for instance. This has been on since '12 and hasnt taken off yet (not sure why yet). 4/8
Imagine Playment but sliced and diced like a Captcha.
@turkboxio is trying to solve this problem via this approach. 5/8
Which then brings us to identity. Other than sharing personal data, what are other ideas here? 6/8
Could Amazon introduce a 'Read with Amazon' button, where they intermediate the cost of reading, and then harvest your articles to deduce what you wish to buy? Hmmm.... 7/8
Streams and mega brands have customers willing to pay money for subs / memberships.
But what abt blocks? What new models will emerge to address their challenges? Interesting times ahead!
8/8