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Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

satotious.com

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Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#31

Post by satotious »

tokamak-teapot wrote: post #23

I chose to pay and was presented with a QR code. I wondered how to use it from my phone, where I was reading the article. I touched it... nothing. I saw there was a text code above in a box with a copy button, but nothing right there told me how to pay. It did say that if I didn’t have. ‘Satotious’ wallet then I could get one... but I think if you’re hoping people will get themselves a wallet and use it, it might be…

Yes, our initial target audience was users that most likely already had wallets so we didn't want to make it difficult for them to pay. We will be focusing more on UX for non-cyrpto users for the future. We actually hope that both regular and cyrpto users will opt for the extension as it acts as a wallet and also has the auto pay feature. It is very new but if you wanted to test it today then download it and email us (ruby at satotious.com) and we will credit your account with 10 Sats so you can test it for free.

Thanks for your feedback :)

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#32

Post by satotious »

fxtentacle wrote: post #20
satotious wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or micropayments :) I understand the aversion to ads but content creators(journalist, musicians, artists, programmers creating oss, etc) and the web as a whole produces useful stuff, it would be good to find a business model which supports them.

For most articles, I'm lured in by the clickbait headline and then later regret wasting time on reading it. Most YouTube personalities are either undifferentiated haters or conspiracy theorists. So I'm not sure if I really want to support "content creators" in general.

Id also like to add, maybe the reason there is so much clickbait/rubbish is because there isn't a viable business model for good quality content? How many subscriptions can people have?

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#33

Post by shuntress »

fxtentacle wrote: post #20
satotious wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or micropayments :) I understand the aversion to ads but content creators(journalist, musicians, artists, programmers creating oss, etc) and the web as a whole produces useful stuff, it would be good to find a business model which supports them.

For most articles, I'm lured in by the clickbait headline and then later regret wasting time on reading it. Most YouTube personalities are either undifferentiated haters or conspiracy theorists. So I'm not sure if I really want to support "content creators" in general.

Articles that are not clickbait and YouTube personalities that are differentiated and not conspiracy theorists definitely exist and are worth supporting.

You are on Hacker News, so presumably you click some of the links. Some clickbait of course does end up here but linked articles are mostly not clickbait.

Similarly, you should pay attention to youtube links in comments (here and elsewhere) to start building a catalog of creators of content that you enjoy.

Also, incidentally, the apparent deluge of "haters" and "conspiracy theorists" you have noticed and pointed out here relates to a topic of frequent discussion in this forum (regulation of social media networks) and it is worth thinking about how it impacts us in these seemingly unrelated ways.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#34

Post by galuggus »

pedro1976 wrote: post #24

Congrats, first of all, its always a great achievement if you launch. I remember a discussion on why flattr did not take of. The user argumented, that micropayments are not interesting for normal content creators, cause they will only get peanuts at the end of the month. Macropayments instead, which you receive via patreon are much better. You may have a couple of supporters whos payments still might accumulate to a…

Micropayments seem to work well in wechat. Users can tip article writers small amounts.

I think it's been successful because they have reduced the friction for tipping.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#35

Post by shuntress »

emteycz wrote: post #11
shuntress wrote: post #7

This type of thing is exactly why I was excited by the bitcoin whitepaper a decade (ish) ago and why I have been so frustrated by the day-trade lambo culture that bitcoin grew into. I would be much more enthusiastic about Satotious if I had any remaining confidence in the stability/security of BTC or its derivatives; BTC Lightning in this case.

Why don't you convert to USD immediately?

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

If you know of a system for friction-less person-to-person transfer of small amounts of money (Like handing someone a dollar bill, but digital) with widespread adoption on news/entertainment websites please provide a link.

I'm currently using my time+attention as payment (via ads) for most of the content I consume online. I would prefer to have the option of "carrying" a wallet to pay with cash instead.

Edit: Maybe I should have been more clear about what I meant by "stability" and "security". I mean that any time I make a transaction with BTC, I have an extremely low level of confidence that the goods/service I've purchased would have the same value or that my money would have the same purchasing power even in a very short timeframe. "I have $50 to spend this month on news and content. Should I hold off buying anything until next week and hope that all the articles I want to read are cheaper??"

Maybe in a world where I receive a BTC paycheck and pay all my bills with BTC it would make more sense.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#36

Post by Nasrudith »

satotious wrote: post #28
pedro1976 wrote: post #24

Congrats, first of all, its always a great achievement if you launch. I remember a discussion on why flattr did not take of. The user argumented, that micropayments are not interesting for normal content creators, cause they will only get peanuts at the end of the month. Macropayments instead, which you receive via patreon are much better. You may have a couple of supporters whos payments still might accumulate to a…

Well I would argue ads are micropayments, roughly an ad view is like $0.001. A model based around few users making macropayments, influencing the content that is produced, doesnt speak for everybody.

Technically true but the payments are ads are inherently aggregated by the ad provider and the transactions of buyers as opposed to a one to many model of tipping.

Speaking for everybody oddly enough is almost never the goal of any enterprise. Content creators generally either produce their content and care about finances to support it full time (they would try to do so even if it cost them money) or just do so as a means to the end. It is all a trade problem in the end it seems to get people what they want.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#37

Post by satotious »

shuntress wrote: post #35
emteycz wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you convert to USD immediately?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. If you know of a system for friction-less person-to-person transfer of small amounts of money (Like handing someone a dollar bill, but digital) with widespread adoption on news/entertainment websites please provide a link. I'm currently using my time+attention as payment (via ads) for most of the content I consume online. I would prefer to have the option of "carrying" a wallet to…

Yes I see where you are coming from but I dont think it matters for smaller purchases. You have $10 this month, maybe $10.25 next month, you want to read an article which costs $0.005, are you going to hold off for such a small amount?

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#38

Post by satotious »

If you are trying to pay on the paywall: You will see a QR code if you click pay - you need a Lightning wallet to be able to scan it. Or, our browser extension acts as a wallet so makes it accessible for non-crypto users. It is very new and a goal for slightly into the future but if you wanted to test it today then download it and email us (ruby at satotious.com) and we will credit your account with 10 Sats so you can test it for free.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#39

Post by jacques_chester »

fxtentacle wrote: post #20
satotious wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or micropayments :) I understand the aversion to ads but content creators(journalist, musicians, artists, programmers creating oss, etc) and the web as a whole produces useful stuff, it would be good to find a business model which supports them.

For most articles, I'm lured in by the clickbait headline and then later regret wasting time on reading it. Most YouTube personalities are either undifferentiated haters or conspiracy theorists. So I'm not sure if I really want to support "content creators" in general.

Blendle (another one in this general space) had a mechanism where you could decide not to pay after seeing the content.

Disclosure: I have previously pursued a business not dissimilar to the one under discussion.

Re: Show HN: Funding model for the web, users choose between ads or micropayments

#40

Post by jacques_chester »

satotious wrote: post #5
rvrabec wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! Super cool extension for readers, seems easy for publishers too. I like that it isn't baked into the browser like the Brave BAT. Just curious - what split have you seen so far between readers picking ads v micropayments? Question before I try it out -How do you serve up ads? Are you a part of a network? I noticed you collect all data from sites with the extension, curious to know if the ad alternative is collecti…

Thank you so much! If you email us(ruby at satotious.com) your userID, we will credit it with a small amount of btc so you can test the extension auto-pay feature for free. So far we are getting 95% picking ads vs micropayments, I guess thats to be expected as most people dont have bitcoin lightning wallets yet. Right now we have demo ads which we create. Our ads are slightly different as they incorporate a captcha.…

How does the paywall know to let someone through?

Disclosure: I am, in theory, a potential competitor through work I've done off and on over the past decade.

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