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This morning, I registered this here blog with Flattr. Maybe you should register your blog there, too.
Flattr is a new micropayment system. You can use it to earn a little money from your blogging efforts, and more importantly, to give a little something back to the people who make your daily internet experience so rich.
(I love the idea of micropayments, and I’ve talked about them on this blog before.)
Flattr is simple to use: just set up a free account, and install some Flattr buttons on your blog or at the bottom of your posts. (WordPress users, there are plugins for this.)
Then, you pay a little money into your Flattr account. Let’s say, for the sake of illustration, it’s $5.00 a month.
After that, you go about your business normally. browsing the web. But when you see a post you like, and it has a Flattr button at the bottom, you can click that button to Flattr it. That means that the blogger who wrote the post gets a little chunk of your monthly $5.00.
The more posts you Flattr, the more people that monthly $5.00 is split up among. If you Flattr just a few posts, then those few bloggers get bigger payments. Flattr more posts, and bloggers get smaller payments. You don’t have to think about it, and you’ll never end up spending more than the monthly amount you set.
Meanwhile, as other people Flattr your posts, you’ll be earning small payments.
A few of these micropayment systems have shown up over the past couple years, but Flattr seems to be gaining some traction. I’ve seen a number of other crafty bloggers signing up, which is awesome.
I think that, in order to benefit us all, a system like this needs two things:
Widespread adoption
(Duh.) Flattr becomes more viable for our community when more of the community is using it. I’m sitting here with money in my Flattr account, waiting to Flattr your posts. All I need is for you to sign up.
A closed loop
(Quoting the Flattr website here) You have to give to get. So, don’t sign up for Flattr only to make money. Set up your monthly browsing budget, too. It can be as little as the cost of a latte a month, and that does make a difference to your community.
Flattr is based in Sweden, but is seeing participation from all over the world. The system is in beta right now, so it may take you a little while to get an invitation. (Sorry, my update codes are now gone. But anyone else who signs up gets three invites, so check with your blog-friends!)
There’s lots more information at the Flattr site, and also at the Flattr blog.
This sounds totally awesome…I will have to look into it :) Would be nice if I got an invitation!!
I'd take an invite if you've still got one. Interesting concept.
I have a few more invite if you want to email me at kristin@craftleftovers.com I'll generate the code for you :)
Great write up on Flattr! I'll definitely be linking to when I do my write up on crafty biz stuff tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to put together such a great post!
Would love an invite, too. :) So…flatter is like the change you used to save to buy papers? But now we pay each other instead? Am I getting this correctly?
I'd love one!
Thanks, Kristin! Everyone should also check out Lee's post about it, too: http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=980
Hmm… I'm not familiar with that analogy, Elizabeth. I like to think of it as a voluntary ecosystem of support.
Like buying paper newspapers used to be people’s daily read, now it’s blogs for a lot of people.
Do you see any downsides to this?
It's yours, Sarah – will you email me so I have your email address? craftypodatdeepideasdotcom
Just emailed you, Megs…
Wow, I love this idea! A monthly browsing budget is a great idea, these people are genius! Personally I know how much I spend on magazines each month, and the blogs I love so much help me even more- they totally deserve at least as much!
I recently joined Flattr and I like it so far. They're pretty quick with support too.
BOY, would I love to Flattr One Pretty Thing a whole lot. Is all I'm saying. :-)
I'd love to check it out! Seems like great and interesting idea. An invite would be super awesome.
Sorry, Kelly – my two invite codes are long gone. But you can sign up for a beta invite at Flattr. They send them out periodically to people on their list, so you shouldn't have to wait too long.
thanks for posting this. I hadn't heard of it. I signed up for the waitlist. It's great for people like me who don't always have the cash for an ebook but would like to support an interesting blog/fun podcast/creative tutorial site (like yours!). Looking forward to see how this grows. I would think that the craft and food community would love it.
I agree – I think lots of online communities could benefit from this!
Well, the system is still in Beta, so it's safe to say that things will evolve from here. Plus, we don't have too many other successful micropayment models to refer to at this point (unless you want to count the iTunes Store). So, I can't yet safely say there are no downsides. But given the popularity this system has gained overseas, I think it's a very strong contender. And I do think the micropayment model is an idea who's time has come.
In terms of newspapers and other print media, I think evolution (and regained success) is within their reach. But that will require letting go of the old models and moving on to find out what scarcities audiences will value.
I did and found this link – http://www.scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/icst/ic… in the comments. Have you seen that? Amazing. And totally the educational comic of your second blog. I love it!
Yes! Isn't that a great thing? I linked to that in my post on “How to Kill Your Favorite Website” (linked above in my post, for those interested.) I love the way Scott McCloud thinks!
meant to say “vlog”. will check out your other post. :)
This is SUCH a great idea, and a very economical way for me to support the crafters I love as well as budget my craft dollars and time.
I don't create tutorials, but I do consume them voraciously. If this picks up I think we has craft consumers are going to see a much higher quality in online tutorials being created in the future because the craft creative will have a bit more time and money to invest in creating! Win-Win!
I think my first run of Flattr-ing will be going back through all the free tutorials that I completed and seeing if the creators are signed up. If not, I'm asking them to do so, so I can say thank you.
And I agree with you, Diane. One Pretty Thing DEFINITELY deserves some serious flattr-ing!
That sounds like an awesome approach, Michelle! I have a lot of things bookmarked myself – I'll go through and see if there any Flattr-ing opportunities. Thanks for the idea!
Just FYI- Flatter doesn't show up on your posts in google reader, and in my browser the flatter button doesn't show up all the way on your post either (it is in a frame and only 3/4 visible).
I think it is an intersting idea!
The RSS Flattr button is (for some reason) breaking other things on my blog at the moment. I'm checking with the plugin's support on that.
Can you tell me what browser you're using, so I can troubleshoot that?
I've been reading about this in a few places lately – I just got my invite. Hurray! It is such a great way to give something back – even if you can't afford to buy, I dunno, a purse or scarf or pattern from someone. To people who might not get it, I'd say “it's kinda like buskers on the tube, if you like the music they're playing, you throw in a few pence or pounds”. :-)
love this idea. thank you for sharing. This is on my to do list for this weekend!
An excellent analogy, Carina! I'm glad you're signing up, too!
I am behind this idea 100%! Been “noodling” how this kind of thing could be done for some time and as usual you are light years ahead of me!! There are so many talented and generous bloggers offering us their ideas and time and excellent tutorials. I have had the fun of making so many treasures, discovered excellent new recipes, enjoyed trips to the far reaches of the globe – all because of the time and effort of the blogging community. I will definitely join when an invitation presents itself. I am very excited to have this small way to contribute and say thank you!
thanks for this!
This is just an (economic) observation about such a system, not a criticism. Unless there are people in flattr who don't blog (and hence can't be flattr'd and “earn” money), the available monthly money is simply reallocated among the bloggers in flattr. In such a closed system, a particular blogger can only earn more money than her or she allocates each month, if someone else earns less. Hopefully, there will be enough “friends” of bloggers to infuse “extra” money into the system.
This is a great concept!
I'll look into it.
I agree with what you're saying, Patricia. This is definitely one reason we need mass adoption for any micropayment system to be effective.
…Although even in the closed system you're describing, there's an opportunity for bloggers to voluntarily reward the people who enrich their lives with great content. I would like to see this practice gain traction in our free-media culture, even if the earnings are modest.