It's the internet, and quite frankly no one wants to pay for any of the content they receive. Hey, it's all digital, right? It's not like there is a physical product or anything.
But I've just made this absolutely fantastic blankity-blank that I put more effort into than an entire semester's worth of work and it already has an insane amount of page views and if it were from some company, I would be getting so much money. Seriously, if this came in physical form, people would pay for it! But since I have no other method of distribution other than the internet, there's no way I could ever give it to people free, and still get paid...right?
Entirely wrong, my dear passer-by that I am now ranting at from my soapbox! Gather 'round and I shall tell you a tale that is both fantastical and will- wait, you say this sounds like a crackpot idea, a scam, snakeoil sold by a quack?! But there is logic to this madness!
See, as we learned in class, the product is The Consumer, NOT what was created. So, Squidoo decided work with the produsage concept to use consumer-created content to sell The Consumer over the internet as well, and neither creating a thing themselves nor charging The Consumer for a thing, just the way The Consumer wants it.
How it works:
You make an account. You link your account with a PayPal account. (Leaving issues of security for another debate, PayPal.com is generally considered the most popular user-to-random-user method of payment over the internet. If you're looking to generate revenue over the internet as an individual, probability is, you have a PayPal account.) Now, having done that, you make a webpage on their site. On whatever you want. Denver, How To Pick Your Nose, Effects of Large Companies on Global Warming, How to Knit a Klein Bottle.....anything.
Now, your part is finished. As far as you care, people search for some info, they find your site, visit it....and you get paid for the amount of traffic you have on your site. More visitors, more money, all very good.
How does Squidoo get the money to pay you, and why do they care that you have visitors? Becasuse when you post your page, they place on your webpage...ADS! And since when you post your webpage, you give it categories and information to make it findable, it also allows them to place ad-content into your page that is more consumer-relevant than random ads on a random pages. The advertisers pay Squidoo, Squidoo pays you....and the consumer doesn't pay a thing. Well, not unless they're tempted by one of those ads. Then the advertiser is sucessful, and the consumer gets something beyond just your webpage.
Example: Screenshot of Lens on Denver
Example: Diverse "Lensography" to a Niche Market
The more people aware of the site, the more people who post, the greater a repository for information and content it becomes. Thus, a more mutualistic relationship between creater, distributor and consumer can be formed. The current model is rather parasitic, no?
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