Tip Jars for Content

It's no secret that news sites are having a difficult time figuring out the monetization of its news online. Goes back to what I have always contended -- people pay for service -- not content. We pay for the service of our news being delivered, we pay our Internet provider a monthly fee and we pay our cell-phone carrier for the service. (We even pay for water that comes in a bottle -- but watch us howl if someone put a lock-box on a water fountain.)

This doesn't bode well when the content provider is not the service provider, aka the newspapers with their online news. The Miami Herald took what many in the industry believe is the equivalence of passing a hat by asking for donations to continue its breaking news coverage. Cheeky bloggers wrote that the mighty Herald had stooped to asking for handouts. Headlines mocked with Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Others like Steve Outing, blogger for the Poynter Institute, approved the move but said it was too subtle (the graphic appears at the end of stories - he suggests a window after a certain number of articles are consumed), too difficult (credit card only -- no PayPal!) and too open-ended (send whatever you want). Outing urged a more blatent, targeted and convenient approach, such as Kachingle (Outing, himself, uses Kachingle) which is sort of the United Way for supporting bloggers and journalists. Pay once and Kachingle doles it out.

Outing makes very good points, particularly in suggesting easier methods of pay. Fundraising 101 says to suggest payment amounts. If the Herald is hoping for $40 per reader, then they ask query should be something like $20 $50 $100 and other. (Museums have a pay-what-you-want model - -but normally for a single day a week -- while charging for other days.

There may be little precedent from other media for the Herald to draw on -- except perhaps from Wikipedia which raised $3m in this fashion. Still, to ease the queasiness, perhaps content sites should look at the financial models of museums -- which rely on annual memberships to fund events and attractions. Bundle content, a discount book and a free map. Suddenly, content sites are selling a service, which people seem to value inherently.