Brilliant. While I don’t know the details of why Michael is doing this, six reasons why I love this immediately come to mind:
- Street Cred: Msg’s blog is mostly a mash-up of links, news, ideas and random web findings. We have yet to see his full-length writing but we know that he’s been busting out 967 words while feeling affectionate and concerned about relationships. We also know he’s crazy smart and likely capable of producing very high-quality content.
- Novelty: Michael is the first I’ve seen to do this. $4/mo is a nominal fee when there’s little to no competition or choice. Even if the writing isn’t good (which I’m sure it’ll be awesome), the mere fact that he’s the first to do it will spark interest.
- Free No More: I think we give too much away for free. Ideas and quality content take time and effort and $ helps keep it going. Major props to letter.ly and Michael for driving this.
- Confidence: If you don’t like it, you can take his money. (That’s a damn good guarantee. And using Venmo, he still has a level of control because you can only take his money if he “trusts” you.)
- Tech Partners: On the topic of Venmo (a super cool start-up changing the way we pay for and receive money), Michael’s experiment will likely drive usage and sign-ups. Same goes to Letter.ly. Triple win.
- No ads?: Who needs ads when the product is actually paid for?
