Flattr - I want to give you my money
conceitedcode.com
conceitedcode.com
They shot themselves in the foot when they launched the service: a "private beta". It was the most ridiculous idea ever, here is a service that NEEDS every user they can get vaguely interested to sign up and use it, and then when they have users interested (the initial launch "buzz") they say "nope sorry, it's a private beta, we'll send you an invite some time".
I used Flattr for a while and so little sites used it I just ended my subscription. I was lucky to get an invite too... they should have been trying to take everyone who WANTED to use the service, instead they pushed them away.
Rather than think about launching in beta vs launching publicly, think about launching in beta vs launching much later. Which is the better choice?
Sigh.
I would not sign up as the service stands now because the whole thing requires too much daily thought from me.
Tim Pritlove, for example, (a podcaster) is making close to 2.000€ per month (chart and German blogpost: http://tim.geekheim.de/2011/04/14/ein-jahr-flattr/).
Why that is, I can only take a stab at: I guess we see a lot more from you guys on the other side of the pond than you see from us. :)
[1] Comma overload -- my English teacher would kill me.
Even within Germany, there's no consensus about where to put the Euro sign (before or after). Americans don't write times like 20:00 and say "eight" aloud. After several years in Europe, I'm fairly adept at accepting all inputs.
Google Chrome will translate web page languages, which is a much more difficult problem.
- To put the button on your website you have to also be a paying Flattr user (pay a minimum of €2/month).
- You are forced to pay a hefty 10% cut of everything you earn to Flattr. Also, you further have to pay all PayPal fees (those are not included in the 10% Flattr cut). And possibly taxes depending on where you live.
I don't know how many people would pay for/donate to something they're getting for free.
Something about not buying a cow when you're getting milk for free comes to mind...
At TipTheWeb (see my comments above), we think that by supporting the publishers of the stuff you like online, you're helping to make the Web a place that's more valuable to you. We all want more of the good stuff and less of the crap. If you tip a blog post that you like 10 cents, then not only does the publisher of that blog make a little money, but they also get some information about which of the stuff they write is valuable to their readers. This is a feedback loop that's missing from advertisement-driven publishing, where they get the ad impression regardless of whether you like the content.
"It is an incredibly simple process and there is no downside."
is:
"The minimum amount of money needed to continue use of Flattr is €2 (about $3) each month"
Can I disable/inactivate my account?
- No. As long as there's money in your means
account, these will be used each month. When they
run out your account will be deactived until
you add more funds.
Maybe Flattr should do that as well. For example they could extend the service so that you could put a button on your website which when someone presses it, it pays a fixed amount from their website to yours, which could be used as an easy-to-use micropayment scheme allowing people to pay for content.
For example, you should be able to flattr any URL, not just web sites that have opted in. Here's how it would work: if you see a site that you wish to give money to, you would flattr the URL with a promise of money, but not real money. You would do this on flattr.com. The owner of the URL will go to flattr.com and see that they have $89.13 in "flattry" waiting for them if they sign up. At that point, the site owner has incentive to sign up and collect the money. Once the site owner has signed up, the users are notified that they need to pay (or payment is taken automatically).
This way, users don't have to wait for a site to add the flattr button and site owners will have much more incentive to sign up once they see the money waiting for them.
Tips identify content just by URL de-coupling content attribution from the authors claiming their tips. This also us to work for tipping content on YouTube, Flickr, and GitHub, etc. without requiring the site to be directly integrated with TipTheWeb.
What happens if I tip someone whose video, photo, or code gets taken down?
@cabalamat there is already an API that community has used to create a lot of cool stuff with: https://flattr.com/support/plugins Hoping to see many more though so if you have good ideas feel free to hack away:) Donating specific sums can already be done to other Flattr users via their profile page.
We're actively working on getting Flattr more accessible and available to "flattr everything". Big changes happening in a few days! http://blog.flattr.net/2011/04/flattr-reloads-the-cannons/
/josef (@flattr_intern)
There is a similar service for Bitcoin that I am thinking about adding. That might be more interesting.
Or are you referring to YouTipIt.org which is fairly close to a Flattr except for using bitcoins instead?
Why do they need to charge 10% service fees if they want a "free" society?
When I learned about Kachingle (similar model with an opt-in step), I pretty much threw a wobbly and gave up on the idea. But I've taken from Facebook the idea that first to market doesn't always win, even if they have what seems like insurmountable network value. The race is not always to the swift ...
In any case, I've turned some of my design work into the basis of an honours project, so if all else fails I'll have an upgraded degree and something cool to talk about in interviews.
It didn't come up during an interview though :|
What's the difference?
> It didn't come up during an interview though :|
They keep warning me this will be the case. Lies. Lies and slander!
You donate blood and you donate to a charity. You pay for music and you pay for books. When you donate you don't expect to get something back in return. When you pay you expect something back.
Even though no one is forcing you to give in either case the mental model is a quite different. For example, as a musician I want people to pay me because they enjoy my music not because they feel that I need the money. As a listener I will pay someone if I enjoy their music - I don't really care about the financial status of the musician.