IS IT time for people to start paying for online content? Jon Yongfook, a web producer and creator of various social media initiatives, says yes.
"I remember when I was a kid, we actually had to pay for goods and services," the 28-year-old said. "Now, we've been given things for free for so long that we’ve developed an entitlement mentality."
Jon is in town, and gave a talk entitled "How to fire your boss" to about 150 people interested in blogging and social media during the weekend’s BlogOut conference. The two-day affair was organised by The Digital Movement, a non-profit local interest group.
Jon was trying to make the point that blogs could earn their owners money, but not through advertising. Advertising is an unstable form of income for the blogger, and like Heidi Klum says, "One day you're in, the next day, you're out."
He believed that the day would come when people would start paying for content. Not just any content, but specialised, niche content that only YOU would be able to create.
"There’s an expert in all of us," he said.
My question back is, what expertise do I have? It isn't always so clear.
After all, we are just students, office workers, service providers, housewives...Can all of us really be an expert?
Perhaps the key is in becoming an extremely niche expert, and to take advantage of the long tail.
It isn't enough, for example, to teach people how to get good grades, because that is too general, but perhaps someone will pay me because I can teach them how to write an essay and get a reasonable grade within 48 hours.
Maybe a housewife can give tips on making the perfect Japanese bento lunchboxes that will win the love of their children and husbands – all within 30 minutes in the morning.
Jon gave some examples, such as The Japan Times Online, which managed to make a good income by delivering extremely niche content – it "sold" information on how foreigners can start a business in Japan, including all the licensing protocol, translated into English.
I'm still on the fence.
I think the barriers to entry are a little too high for our average teenage blogger who writes about make-up, movies and school.
It sounds extremely daunting. I'll believe it when I see our regular teenager blogger making his pocket money that way.