- The elusive and amazing Jorn Borg has come out of hiding to resume his great info-deep and timely weblog, Robot Wisdom. That means I can put his link back up. Great news. His site is highly recommended.
- Jason Kottke of Kottke.org has quit his job to blog for a living! His plan is to earn the necessary revenue through visitor donations. This is daring, and I can’t wait to see what happens, especially since his site is not topical. Why is this interesting? Because we are entering an era where some people will be able to live and produce what they want via a system of micro-patronage. This is part of the fragmentation of the global economy into small, highly-profitable parallel economies. Micro business with a global reach. Big business will never go away, but it will be forced to compete with smaller, more agile groups. Significant economic activity now takes place largely among individuals, and it is easier than ever for small groups to make money quickly. You do not need to buy retail property and you are not limited by geography. Many people are now making a living selling goods and services to a global market without being “employed” in the classic sense. All this is made possible with the communication and efficiency enabled by software and networks. Micro-patronage is just one facet what’s possible.
Kottke has stated that he will not be using advertisements to earn revenue, which is a good idea for his site. In my opinion, accepting donations is not much different than using ads except that you spare your audience the visual annoyance intrinsic to advertising. I would go the donation route if I thought it was feasible. I’d like to see some figures on how donation revenues compare to advertising revenues for sites of equivalent traffice levels. My guess is advertising is still more lucrative since you are not depending strictly on the good will and beneficence of your audience, and since your revenue is tied to traffic you benefit directly from the number of people you bring to the site. Of course, as the number of advertisements increase, traffic and revenue should decrease as advertising clutter will alienate readers and ruin the aesthetic of the site.