
TipJoy’s New API Lets Web Apps Share the Love (and Cash) With Their Contributors  - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/27/tipjoys-new-api-lets-web-apps-share-the-love-and-cash-with-their-contributors/
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alper
At Tipit.to we haven't sent out a single payup reminder yet and we're seeing a
percentage of more than 50% (more than 75% if you exclude unverified
accounts).

Read more about how we are doing things differently in my comment on the post:
[http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/27/tipjoys-new-api-lets-
we...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/27/tipjoys-new-api-lets-web-apps-
share-the-love-and-cash-with-their-contributors/#comment-2331084)

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dhbradshaw
I like the idea that instead of taking a fee, you allow the tipped to
optionally tip Tipit.to. It feels right.

I wouldn't be too surprised if the tipped amount ended up being more than 3%.
Any stats?

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alper
We have the default set at 10% (but people can slide it back to 0 if they
want). Right now we're seeing a tip back percentage of 4.3 percent.

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aneesh
Nice to see this just a day or two after all the "TipJoy is dead"
proclamations. There's no question that micropayments are going to be huge
when someone gets it right. The only thing is, can Tipjoy actually get people
to pay?

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ivankirigin
Erick is pretty down on the payment rate of 25%. But think about it this way:
the content is free and no one needs to pay. That 25% do is pretty astounding
actually.

As we move to other models of micropayments, this issue won't be as big.

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stcredzero
25% is 2.5 times higher than the payment rate for public radio, which is just
10%.

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ssharp
Blogs tend to also have a smaller passive audience percentage than public
radio as well. Also, I'd rather have a 10% payment rate where I'm getting
significantly higher donations than a 25% rate where I'm getting 10 cents. I
don't know what the average gift is but I'd guess it to be over $100.

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thorax
Congrats guys! I know we're awfully excited about this for our sites. Thanks
for all your help getting setup.

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rokhayakebe
Tipjoy is the Adsense of tipping. I don't care what the doubtful minds think,
I see Millions down the line.

EDIT: I may be mistaking, but it appears to me that the first day Adsense
rolled out, they earn 10 bucks, and they had way more followers than TipJoy. I
know I am buying this stock.

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jsmcgd
I agree. Although it only has 300 sites using it so far, it's still early
days. If they don't become starved of cash I reckon this will do very nicely.
Good luck Tipjoy!

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ph0rque
I think more people will tip if you tie it to e.g. no ads for those who tip a
certain amount.

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jrockway
Why? Ad-free browsing is already free.

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gojomo
Ad-free browsing is not guilt-free for those who want to support the sites
they use, nor aggravation-free, because a download is required, and sometimes
ad-blockers inflict collateral damage.

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jrockway
It's guilt-free for me.

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gojomo
Love the tipjoy concept, but development in this direction seems to be
'slicing a thin pie even more finely'.

Also, there are issues of 'motivation crowding' to consider -- most
sites/projects that rely on user contributions could hurt themselves if they
made it seem that financial rewards were the main reason to contribute. Cf:
Google Answers vs. Yahoo Answers, among others.

The real challenge, I suspect, is creating a cultural expectation that certain
kinds of online content/service _should_ be supported by casual tipping.
That's a matter to be addressed with
marketing/trendmaking/usability/ubiquity/patience, rather than complexifying
the process with backend payout-sharing.

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thorax
Yeah, "motivation crowding" is an interesting problem. I think the lightness
of TJ helps that a bit, and for our site, it's an opt-in process so they have
to be that sort of person if they want that.

I think you see more confusion in the revenue-sharing models. When you bill it
as "We'll pay you for content!" then it really puts people into a mindset of
$$$ which can effect how much they want to contribute in their spare time.

I think there's a good chance that won't happen in this model when you say
"Hey, you can let people tip you a dime for this content if you want."

Still, I'm interested to see how well our community enjoys it.

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giles_bowkett
Clay Shirky.

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ivankirigin
I love Shirky. His essay on micropayments heavily influenced the dead simple
Tipjoy interface:

<http://www.shirky.com/writings/fame_vs_fortune.html>

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ComputerGuru
...but that essay basically says micropayments are dead and will never stand a
chance?

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ivankirigin
The reasons they have failed in the past are valid. We're different. It's much
easier, with less thinking.

That could even be our tagline, "Tipjoy: less thinking, more love"

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ComputerGuru
Well, I wish you luck :)

