Network effects and spreading the joy
I’ve received $1.50 in TipJoy tips in only a couple of days — thanks! The only problem is, this is all virtual money at the moment, as none of the tippers have actually paid up. TipJoy lets tippers run up a debt and then pay later when the total gets to a reasonable amount like $5.
However, at the default of 10c per tip, it takes 50 tips to get to $5. At present, there are very few blogs and websites in the TipJoy network, so if the opportunities for people to leave tips are few, it’ll take a very long time for me to get paid, and virtual tips do not make me nearly so happy as actual cash. TipJoy does let you tip any website that you like, but the site owner only gets paid if they claim their tip, so I doubt that people will tip many sites that don’t specifically have the tip buttons. So I think there is a clear network effect here. TipJoy makes tipping very easy, but to get paid within a reasonable time, the TipJoy network of blogs and websites needs to be fairly large so that the frequency of tipping by tippers is reasonably high. The bigger the network, the more valuable it is to members.
Therefore I am calling on all econ (and other) bloggers: Add TipJoy to your site! If everyone does so, it’ll be more valuable to all of us.
On a practical note, I am wondering about the ability of ad-supported websites to join a tipping system. Does the contract with advertisers prohibit it?
3 Comments
I had a look at Tipjoy following your recent posts and, of course, came to the conclusion that this hasn’t got a hope in hell of working unless everyone one else uses it. Therefore I took the rational decision to not bother until a critical mass is using it.
In today’s post you have seen the light. It is is tempting but of course the current shoe leather costs are too high and there is an element of “down grading” and to appear to be begging.
This can have a detrimental effect on your “academic credibility”. Do you really want your students or indeed bosses to see you begging for money on the internet to supplment your salary?
Do academics not earn enough without wanting another $10 to buy books?
Comments welcome as this is an interesting topic
Rob: You make some interesting points. I didn’t think of the negative credibility aspect before. I don’t really think I can make any significant income from tips (or ads). Obviously if I needed a few extra dollars then I would be better off to quit blogging and get a part-time job at McDonalds instead. So I didn’t really perceive of it as begging for a supplement to my salary, but more as a way for readers to express their appreciation.
On the other hand, if you think this way then clearly other people might as well. I will have to think seriously about it.
Do you think that ads would suffer from the same negative perception?
It would be fine to use with other advertising.
Instead I’d recommend paypal donate, it already has a critical mass. Also asking for a specific suggestion of $3 will help - some bloggers say buy me a coffee - buy me a beer. There are too many menu costs to bother with small amounts.
just to give an example:
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/buy-me-a-coffee/
But, if you want to make money from a website, google adsense will giver much more than asking for donations.