Andy sent me a link to Flattr last week. It’s a service that is setting out to revolutionise how people get paid for online content. I’m always pretty suspicious of any startup that claims they are going to ‘revolutionise’ something, but it’s an interesting idea. These were my initial thoughts:
I love the (generally) uncommercial nature of blogs at the moment, and I wonder how this would change people’s behaviour for the worse. I know that I’d get way more donations for posting “10 steps to becoming a power blogger” or uploading a photo with a stupid caption on it in Helvetica, rather than writing something interesting about how people use the internet or what I’m thinking about life. I’d probably rather not have this in the back of my mind when I’m thinking about what to write on, and I’d definitely rather not read blogs for people who are motivated this way.
When I see that bloggers are doing ‘sponsored’ posts or taking money from people like Nuffnang, they immediately lose all credibility in my mind. If we can find time to blog for free just because we enjoy doing it then everyone else can too.
Not sure about the writing and art direction in the explanation video though!
