Bitcoin Tips and Content Creation: Will Micropayments Save the Paywall?

NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) – Over the past few years, much has been said about the possibility of using bitcoin as a new tool for content monetization. Some have even hypothesized that bitcoin could completely replace the need for advertisers and create a direct connection between a content creator and his or her audience. While there are definitely valuable attributes of bitcoin that could be harnessed by certain content creators, the reality is the viability of many bitcoin-only content monetization schemes might be overblown.
Sharing has value
One of the main issues with placing a paywall over any piece of content is that it lowers the chances that the content will be shared on various social networks. Even if bitcoin is able to bring the costs of unlocking a paywall down to a few cents, the fact of the matter is that ‘free’ (content monetized through advertisements) content is going to get more shares than any webpage that has a paywall. This is one of the main issues that The Magazine faced with the original monetization model of their iPad-only magazine.

This post was published at Inside Bitcoins on Jan 10, 2015.