First lure them in, then monetise – not the way we want to play at 2:23AM
Free…free…free…oh, the sound of free.
Social media is free; this web summit is free. Sign up for my free newsletter….
Not. True.
Watching the sun rise is free. (So far, it has not been commodified.) Holding hands with your beloved is free. But to choose to take time to watch the sunrise may mean you are not doing something else, which is a choice…a free choice…but with a consequence. All choice has consequence…a price of some form.
With social media, you are the product…your every move, every like, every word a data point to be sold to some other company to make money off you.
The web summit…comes at the price of your email address…so you can be seduced into something, if not now, then down the line.
That free email newsletter…Like I have…is usually designed to lure you into buying something or paying to join something…
(I would hope that 2:23AM is about building a community that chooses to be engaged and where everything we do is done in the full light of transparency.)
The words…lure, capture, seduce, sell…
Yet, this is the conversation, isn’t it? How are you going to lure them and monetise?
Surely there is a better question?
As I create 2:23AM, these are the questions, and the slippery slopes I am navigating.
And I simply refuse to play this game. The first lure them in (that would be people like you and me) and then monetise.
Yet the hard truth is, we still require money to live in the world.
So what is the model? What is the way forward that offers ZERO lure/seduction, no ‘capture’, no coercion, no fancy spin doctoring…that is fair, respectful, dignified and treats people (that would be you and me) as sovereign beings able to make wise choices?
And allows the business and its entire community, internal and external, to thrive?
This is my question. This is my creative tension?
I suspect it has to do with creating something that is deeply wanted and needed, that has total transparency at all stages of the engagement, that treats the community as intelligent sovereign beings, that invites versus manipulates or seduces, and that during the engagement, all parties feel incredibly blessed by the value provided. Oh…and there is no hidden agenda…which comes back to transparency, clean and clear intent, impeccable integrity…
That…I want that…I want to be a dignified human instead of a number in someone’s growing database/metrics.
