Comments on: MinnPost seeks “micro-sponsors” for blog at $10 and $25 a pop

By: 2020 Vision: What's next for news « Hot Topics

2020 Vision: What's next for news « Hot Topics — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:59:57 +0000

[...] Sponsorships and micro-sponsorships. Remember the days when attorneys couldn’t advertise? To get around that, lawyers used to “sponsor” symphony orchestras to get their names mentioned in concert programs. Sponsorship-based advertising offers some sustainability advantages over traditional CPM/CPC ads and lets content producers spend more time producing than selling. Micro-sponsorship (asking users for some level of annual or monthly support, with or without some tangible benefit) is another interesting revenue source. [...]

By: 2020 Vision: What’s next for news « non(pr)ofit

2020 Vision: What’s next for news « non(pr)ofit — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:29:51 +0000

By: 2020 Vision: What’s next for years « The Future of Journalism & Mass Communication

Sun, 24 May 2009 14:59:25 +0000

By: forex technical indicators

forex technical indicators — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:54:29 +0000

I learned something here. Thanks for posting.

By: BeatBlogging.Org - Leaderboard for week of 3-16-2009: Three pillars of new media journalism

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:19:47 +0000

[...] MinnPost.com is a non-profit journalism outfit that you should be following. They are experimenting with some interesting revenue models. [...]

By: Nieman Journalism Lab: MinnPost and blog ‘micro-sponsorship’ | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:55:27 +0000

[...] Full story at this link… [...]

By: Chuck Olsen

Chuck Olsen — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:14:56 +0000

I borrowed/stole this idea for my show “Eskimo Witch” at mnstories.com. Unlike MinnPost, I’m a one-man operation wearing both the publisher hat and the content-creator hat. The show is not exactly a journalistic enterprise, though, so I don’t see any problem openly asking for money and thanking everyone who contributes… including Junior Eskimo Witch microsponor, David Brauer. :-)

By: Joel Kramer

Joel Kramer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:09:52 +0000

I’m feeling guilty that I told Zachary that Braublog posts typically get 1,000 views. I just checked and found 16 items in the past month that got more than 2,000 — sometimes a lot more. Which means there are plenty of potential micro-sponsors who haven’t hit the donate button yet!

By: David Brauer

David Brauer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:36:09 +0000

Josh – just trying to make it scalable!

Karl – geez, give an earnest co-worker a break!

By: Josh Young

Josh Young — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:11:38 +0000

Also, Karl, you wouldn’t want any PR infiltrators who might try to slip David a suitcase full of payola cash!

By: Karl Pearson-Cater

Karl Pearson-Cater — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:05:06 +0000

Josh – One idea we’re kicking around that you might like is to create a BrauMeetUp event for all the HighBraus and LowBraus to get together and geek out about BrauBlog subjects.

But to maintain anonymity, David Brauer would be banned from attending.

By: Josh Young

Josh Young — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:38:17 +0000

I agree, David, that if a PR firm throws dozens and dozens of sponsors your way, you might have a problem. But I encourage you to cross that bridge when you get to it. I doubt you will, and considering very remote possible worlds doesn’t make the best kind of argument anyhow. “What if that woman is actually a man?” makes for great history, but I think you should consider waving away the comparison between yourself and Caesar specifically and royalty generally.

Meantime, if the PR firm pushes only a handful of sponsors you way, thank them all happily and carry on with your good reporting, confident that reasonable citizens should and will let it pass the smell test.

By: David Brauer

David Brauer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:54:23 +0000

Josh – plenty of local feedback agrees with you. And I might too, though rumination continues.

My concern is, what if, say, a p.r. firm or media company throws a bunch of microsponsors my way? Even with transparency, that could hurt my credibility in reader’s eyes. As you note, they’d probably brag about it anyway, and being an info omnivore by vocation and avocation, I’d probably find out. So perhaps my policy is a distinction without a difference.

We don’t allow media firms to display advertise on the blog. Maybe we should forbid their employees or contractors from doing so? But then I’d lose some sincere sponsors among those badly needed 1,000.

By: Josh Young

Josh Young — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:49:22 +0000

I don’t think “1,000 true fans” are terribly likely to be anonymous, unfortunately. The rigmarole about Caeser’s wife strikes me as reductio as absurdum. Simple transparency should suffice, even if it doesn’t let some people with obnoxious bosses to help out. That people like recognition shouldn’t be a problem when the amounts are so small.

By: David Brauer

David Brauer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:17:58 +0000

Zachary – thanks for the write-up. A couple of other datapoints. Overall, the blog’s readership is 5,000-10,000 a weekday. Obviously, many folks read more than one post a day, so uniques are probably a bit north of 1,000.

I haven’t made a direct pitch myself, though I might do so in the future.

Also, some folks are determined to let me know they’re sponsors – including some I cover – so it’s not an impenetrable wall. Trying to avoid disclosure is an experiment for this writer, too.