A big change is around the corner. A few years from now, it will be normal to pay each other when we send each other messages.
An Example From The Past
I just received one more bogus feature request: “add rich text formatting”. Sounds like a sensible feature for the world’s most popular online notepad shrib.com that I run.
Yet, there is currently a crowdfunding campaign for this exact feature. Shrib.com mentions and advertises it in various places. Whoever wrote the feature request knows about the campaign. I even mentioned it to him in reply to his request. The campaign accepts any amount of pledge; even just 1$ would be plenty.
The guy who wrote the feature request has not pledged a single dollar. But he does waste my time and a slot in my inbox with his unmotivated message. Sometimes, such emails even make me think. I consider the issue. I do some research on the need, the coding implications, and the marketing aspects. I write a polite reply.
Walk Your Talk
This is one example of the difference between “walk” and “talk”. The “talk” is requesting a complex feature. The “walk” is not even pledging one dollar to support the implementation of the feature. By coincidence, the difference is obvious in this case. I don’t usually have a running crowdfunding campaign about the exact subject of an inquiry.
Instead of a shrib.com user requesting a feature, it may be a start-up team asking for advice. It may be a marketing person asking questions for a survey. Or a remote “friend” I have seen once 5 years ago who invites me to her vernissage.
Rarely in today’s online communications world do I get the chance to directly see whether a person appreciates my time and attention. Online communication has been free forever. Where “free” means “free for the sender”. The entire cost of assessing the motivation behind an electronic message is on the recipient today. However, the sender knows a lot more about it.
A Look Into The Future
I believe this is about to change. And it will change in a big way. I see a future where people will be used to show the motivation for their messages through money.
After all, money, in general, is a result of work. And work is where someone has her passion, her experience, or her livelihood. I have experienced how spending the result of my work for someone else’s attention gives me a deep sense of appreciation and satisfaction.
There will be online services that allow users to put a price tag on their handles or addresses. There will be ways to open up channels with varying prices. There will be micropayment services piggybacking on these new kinds of services.
No More Need To Monetize Your Privacy
Since money will be involved, the business models of these services will be way more transparent and consumer-friendly than today.
All of today’s big online services rely on screening all your personal content to sell highly targeted advertisement space to others. The marketing departments of corporations and governments may rejoice, and the masses get more malleable by the day.
With a service that basically transfers money from one user to the other user, the obvious way to finance the infrastructure is through commissions. A user who makes money with the service won’t mind spending a little piece of it to keep the service going. And she will appreciate knowing that there is no obvious reason the service operator has to read through all her messages.
The First Step: ningo.me
I have been pondering this whole subject for many years now. Two years ago, I decided I didn’t want to be left out on this opportunity to change the world. I quit my job, I started working hard, involved my friends and family, and finally launched ningo.me.
Ningo.me implements the above concept for email. Create an account, set up as many different email addresses as you like, and set their price tags (to zero or more).
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If you are curious about ningo.me: sign up now and check it out!
Say goodbye to unmotivated email messages.
Say hello to email messages that are to the point.
Originally published at blog.schucan.com on March 13, 2015.
