Comments on: Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/ The future of news. And more. No funny stuff. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:22:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Maybe It’s Time For Twitter To Go “Freemium” » Webomatica - Technology and Entertainment Digest http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-10881 Maybe It’s Time For Twitter To Go “Freemium” » Webomatica - Technology and Entertainment Digest Sun, 11 May 2008 21:05:09 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-10881 [...] One answer is the “freemium” model. You suck users in with the free stuff, but then slap.... Flickr does it. [...] [...] One answer is the “freemium” model. You suck users in with the free stuff, but then slap…. Flickr does it. [...]

]]> By: Ryan http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6356 Ryan Thu, 31 May 2007 03:09:17 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6356 @Mark: 1 - I don't believe micropayments will ever work for news. Copy/paste kills that as a viable business model. 2 - RSS feeds should definitely be free, although I don't have much of a problem with newspapers putting out partial feeds that entice readers to click through to read the full story. It's not ideal, but it gets people to the doorstep of your content. 3 - I think you're right about the "Pay to skip the ads" model - for small community papers and maybe alt-weeklies, but really, aren't the users who have the money to pay the fee the users your advertisers want to reach? 4 - Classifieds have built-in upsells - in lots of systems they're already "freemium." For free, you get text. Maybe for five bucks, you get a photo added to that. Maybe for 15 you get to add a video. @Mark:

1 – I don’t believe micropayments will ever work for news. Copy/paste kills that as a viable business model.

2 – RSS feeds should definitely be free, although I don’t have much of a problem with newspapers putting out partial feeds that entice readers to click through to read the full story. It’s not ideal, but it gets people to the doorstep of your content.

3 – I think you’re right about the “Pay to skip the ads” model – for small community papers and maybe alt-weeklies, but really, aren’t the users who have the money to pay the fee the users your advertisers want to reach?

4 – Classifieds have built-in upsells – in lots of systems they’re already “freemium.” For free, you get text. Maybe for five bucks, you get a photo added to that. Maybe for 15 you get to add a video.

]]> By: Mark Van Patten http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6355 Mark Van Patten Wed, 30 May 2007 23:05:10 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6355 Problogger writes about donations for blogs. http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/05/31/donations-on-blogs-do-they-work/ Probably won't work on big corporate media sites, unless the ads are stripped (as he mentions.) So the choice might be with ads or make a donation. Might work for a community weekly or alternative weekly. You would also think that with their specialized content BizJournals.com http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/ might adopt a ppv. But they don't seem to be leaning that direction. Can you elaborate on your comment about classifieds? Problogger writes about donations for blogs.
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/05/31/donations-on-blogs-do-they-work/
Probably won’t work on big corporate media sites, unless the ads are stripped (as he mentions.) So the choice might be with ads or make a donation.
Might work for a community weekly or alternative weekly.
You would also think that with their specialized content BizJournals.com http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/
might adopt a ppv. But they don’t seem to be leaning that direction.
Can you elaborate on your comment about classifieds?

]]> By: Mark http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6311 Mark Mon, 28 May 2007 17:00:50 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6311 Newspapers made another mistake by offering RSS feeds free. My RSS reader (Google) strips out all the graphics. The downside is that takes away photos. Is there a way to charge for everything but the ads? (Yes) Newspapers made another mistake by offering RSS feeds free.
My RSS reader (Google) strips out all the graphics. The downside is that takes away photos.
Is there a way to charge for everything but the ads?
(Yes)

]]> By: howardowens.com: media blog » Blog Archive » Getting past free content and into services http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6309 howardowens.com: media blog » Blog Archive » Getting past free content and into services Mon, 28 May 2007 12:54:54 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6309 [...] Sholin coins the word “freemium” (at least I’ve never heard it [...] [...] Sholin coins the word “freemium” (at least I’ve never heard it [...]

]]> By: Notes from a Teacher: Mark on Media » A few more finds http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6297 Notes from a Teacher: Mark on Media » A few more finds Fri, 25 May 2007 04:30:50 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6297 [...] Ryan Sholin may be onto something with his post, Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers, pointing out that people are willing to pay to upgrade from free services when there’s value [...] [...] Ryan Sholin may be onto something with his post, Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers, pointing out that people are willing to pay to upgrade from free services when there’s value [...]

]]> By: links for 2007-05-24 | jamesmitchell.co.uk http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6295 links for 2007-05-24 | jamesmitchell.co.uk Thu, 24 May 2007 20:23:13 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6295 [...] Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers Create a tool that millions of users can play with for free, but make sure there are premium features they can pay just a little bit more to access. Make them look cool. Call them “Pros.” (tags: newspaper+websites future flickr) [...] [...] Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers Create a tool that millions of users can play with for free, but make sure there are premium features they can pay just a little bit more to access. Make them look cool. Call them “Pros.” (tags: newspaper+websites future flickr) [...]

]]> By: Mark Van Patten http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6294 Mark Van Patten Thu, 24 May 2007 19:57:38 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6294 People read (buy) local newspapers for such a wide variety of reasons, I think it would be difficult to put anything behind firewalls. There's a startup that will allow your driver's license to act as a debit card http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2007/sb20070515_503926.htm They charge a flat 15¢ per transaction. Hopefully the market is moving toward micro-payments which will allow newspapers to charge for content in different ways depending on what is accessed. People read (buy) local newspapers for such a wide variety of reasons, I think it would be difficult to put anything behind firewalls.
There’s a startup that will allow your driver’s license to act as a debit card
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2007/sb20070515_503926.htm
They charge a flat 15¢ per transaction.
Hopefully the market is moving toward micro-payments which will allow newspapers to charge for content in different ways depending on what is accessed.

]]> By: Rich Cameron http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6293 Rich Cameron Thu, 24 May 2007 19:17:10 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comment-6293 I think that "free" is one of the reasons so many college papers are using the great news tool of College Publisher. Of course, it is not totally free; you give up your national advertising. But those of us who have not even put national online advertising on our radar, that's something we're happy to give up for the service. We might all regret that decision some day. But your comments above got me to thinking: What kinds of services might be available if College Publisher decided that it already had a viable "get it for free" tool and started adding premium extra tools? Right now one can tap into third parties, such as Flickr, WordPress, Blogger, Google calendar, YouTube, etc., and maybe even the extra-feature versions and plug them into College Publisher. But what if College Publisher expanded its business model to create premium services? Hmmmmm. I think that “free” is one of the reasons so many college papers are using the great news tool of College Publisher.

Of course, it is not totally free; you give up your national advertising. But those of us who have not even put national online advertising on our radar, that’s something we’re happy to give up for the service. We might all regret that decision some day.

But your comments above got me to thinking: What kinds of services might be available if College Publisher decided that it already had a viable “get it for free” tool and started adding premium extra tools?

Right now one can tap into third parties, such as Flickr, WordPress, Blogger, Google calendar, YouTube, etc., and maybe even the extra-feature versions and plug them into College Publisher. But what if College Publisher expanded its business model to create premium services? Hmmmmm.

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