Ulrike Lange of MedialDigital gave a well thought out keynote Thursday at the Cologne content web forum, discussing in depth the crossroads she sees for building value (e.g., revenue) around original content. In it she covers Kachingle (Lange’s site sports the Kachingle Medallion), the shortsightedness of many in the traditional media who think paywalls will save their jobs and the reasons why some readers/audience members will financially support sites, before concluding that all these organizations need to explore new ideas and multiple paths to make their way through the current transition successfully.
Following are several excerpts from Ulrike’s keynote. You can also read the automated Google translation.
Wir befinden uns mitten in einer Medienrevolution. Ähnlich wie in Frankreich ab 1789 wird Blut fließen und es werden Köpfe rollen. Es gibt keine störungsfreie Übergangsphase, wo das alte Analoge allmählich vom neuen Digitalen abgelöst wird. Die Revolution hält sich nicht aufhalten, nicht verlangsamen und sie verläuft disruptiv.
Die Verlage müssen sich allerdings etwas einfallen lassen. Sie müssen einerseits mit ihren Inhalten ins Netz, weil ihre Nutzer dort immer stärker zu finden sind. Sie müssen andererseits neue Wege finden, ihre Inhalte im Netz zu monetarisieren. Vor allem, weil an Werbeplätzen im Internet kein Mangel herrscht, was bekanntlich die Preise extrem drückt.
Meine Kernthesen:
- Das Paywall-Paradoxon
- Die Qualität von “Qualitätsinhalten” liegt im Auge des Betrachters.
- Es wird in Teilen eine Entbündelung bisheriger Inhaltspakete geben.
- Inhalte im Internet werden sich künftig aus vielen verschiedenen Quellen und Geschäftsmodellen finanzieren müssen.
- Medienhäuser müssen auch Kuratoren externer Inhalte werden.
Wofür spenden Nutzer? Was schätzen Nutzen so sehr, dass einige freiwillig dafür bezahlen?
- Kontext, Analyse, Einordnung. Die Nachricht hinter der Nachricht. Kritisches Hinterfragen. Pointieren.
- Das Medium meines Vertrauens als Bezugspunkt im Internet, an den ich mich wenden kann als mündiger Bürger, um gut informatiert zu sein und um Einfluss zu nehmen auf gesellschaftliche Belange.
- Einzigartigkeit, nicht Inhalte, die es auch überall woanders gibt
John Tedesco, an investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News (or as he puts it on his site, a guy who works for that ink-covered relic called a “newspaper,”), writes in “I am officially a Kachingler”, that he likes “the idea of making it easy for people to pay for online content they appreciate.”
I first learned about Kachingle last year from Steve Outing. I thought Kachingle was a cool idea, waited for it to launch, and then promptly forgot about it. Then I read this post by the Center for Public Integrity today saying it joined Kachingle.
Turns out, Kachingle has launched in beta, and at long last I got to sign up with a convenient service to pay my favorite blogs and news organizations.
I appreciate Kachingle for its ease of use. Once you click on that Kachingle badge, paying your favorite blog a little pocket change is automatic and easy. That’s a big deal at a time when news organizations doing expensive watchdog journalism are looking for new revenue streams on the Internet.
Kim Gaskins is the Director of Content Development for Latitude, an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can further enhance human experiences. She recently published Kachingle: The Future of Free?, an analysis of Kachingle inspired after the Lattitude team was “intrigued by the simple elegance of the idea.”
First, we simply like the notion that people are willing to pay for something of value to them. (Latitude Research has written extensively on Radiohead’s In Rainbows album “experiment,” which implemented a pick-your-own-price model for fans–free included–and went on to rake in the digital profits nevertheless).
We like that if Kachingle, or another comprehensive, voluntary-pay model was widely adopted, it might raise the standards for content quality (or connect them more directly to the people actually engaging with the content); it’d tie content quality, user engagement, and user loyalty more concretely to revenue.
Posted in news
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Tagged influence, news
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At Kachingle we’ve got our 5 Guiding Principles:
- User-centric
- No “mental transaction costs”
- Tap into existing social networks
- Financial transparency
- Fun, entertaining, like a game
And we also have 3 books that we rely on for guidance:
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Don't Make Me Think! by Steve Krug
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
