Last year at this time, Jameson Hayes and I were scouring through academic and industry literature and thinking conceptually in order to create a new theoretical micropayment model for news. The result was a paper presentation at the International Symposium on Online Journalism. At the same time, we recognized that our “modified micropayment model” had a wider appeal for online media content, not just news content. Our theoretical micropayment papers have been accepted to two of the most prominent academic journals for media management and economics and should be published within a few months.
Our “Modified News Micropayment Model” was featured on PBS’ MediaShift blog, where host Mark Glaser commented that “it’s a hard concept to grasp because it doesn’t really exist yet.”
That is changing. Ever since we developed our model, we’ve seen more and more movement to a media ecosystem where our theoretical drivers of microearning, socialization, hyperlocal focus and a centralized banking system are in play.
This week alone, PayPal unveiled a micropayment system for digital goods and partnered with Facebook. As the TechCrunch post notes, “the Facebook deal is pretty significant because there are a massive amount of micropayments that flow through the social network on a daily basis with Facebook Credits, gaming and more.”
Meanwhile, Nieman reports that the Associated Press plans to launch a new “ASCAP for news,” an independent business to business clearinghouse for online news content. While this is envisioned for businesses, not individuals, this is in essence a form of microearning in action. The Nieman post also goes on to state that it envisions the AP clearinghouse approach will enable experimentation with “hyperpersonalized news streams,” socially curated news channels and payment processing services.
Hyperlocal content efforts are also increasing, with groups like AOL’s Patch partnering with journalism schools to cover neighborhoods and communities.
While news content is moving behind paywalls, free television on the Web is also becoming a trend of the past.
“Consumers must be made to realize that nothing is free anymore,” TIG Research analyst Rich Greenfield wrote in a blog post quoted in Ryan Nakashima’s AP article.
The media landscape is rapidly changing. What was once futuristic thinking is slowly, but surely, becoming a reality.
Micropayments 2.0 is here.
Graybs 