Flattr Allows People To Pay Content Creators Automatically. No More Manual Clicking Required

Flattr is a a Sweden-based micropayment provider founded by Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde in 2010.

The first version of Flattr was a unique service, but at the same time flawed. Flattr was for people to create budget and distribute it to content creators they like by clicking on the 'Flattr' button on each page they visit. However, not that many publishers actually use Flattr as the service mostly consisted of independent and one-man blogs.

As a result, bloggers weren't able to make a living from Flattr income. To most publishers, Flattr was just a supplement to their existing revenue sources, like advertising, affiliates, sales and so forth.

On an update, Flattr changes the process.

With its relaunch, Flattr allows users to pay content creators automatically, without any manual involvement.

For a website to earn revenue, they don't need to embed any widgets or button anymore. They just need to register with Flattr, link up sites and social media, and provide a bank account information. Here, publishers will be levied a processing fee of 7.5 percent for all payments, along with an initial payment processing fee of 9 percent.

People don't need to remember to click on the button anymore on the content they appreciate. Instead, they just have to download a browser extension, which logs the content they have engaged with.

The extension is called Flattr 2.0, and it works with an algorithm and a subscription to automatically figure out how much to pay for the websites its users have visited.

With that information, Flattr then spreads their monthly 'tipping’ budget accordingly.

Previously, the service was in a private beta, but as of the announcement, it's available to the public. Additionally, Flattr is also switching from Euro denominations to U.S. dollars.

The entire idea for Flattr is indeed unique. But interestingly, Flattr has been acquired by Eyeo, which is the same company that also owns AdBlock Plus, a service that is responsible for ad blocking software.

Till Faida, CEO of Eyeo, said:

"Our vision at Eyeo was always to give users control how to fund the content they consume online. I am extremely proud that with Flattr we can now offer publishers a tool that allows them to generate additional revenue, without any additional effort. Our goal is to have 10 million paying Flattr users. It looks like on average users are going to spend $5 on content, which means Flattr will create $500 million additional revenues for publishers all across the web, which is a good start."
Published: 
25/10/2017