Innovative Australian media company EzyMedia this week launched its answer to the cacophonous postulating around how to monetize premium content. It is called EzyMashup, and on the surface it seems simple and logical enough that it may actually work.
EzyMashup allows WordPress publishers to checkbox articles for inclusion on the EzyMashup page, as they create the article. Visitors to EzyMashup are presented with a simple layout of article images and/or excerpts, along with Facebook âlikeâ or Twittering options. Scrolling over the images pops up more detail about the article, and clicking on the headings or images takes you to the full article.
The full article displays further social sharing options, as well as links back to the original article source site. Even if the article is not quite what you are looking for, down the left and right sidebars you are presented with related articles, which you can click and start the cycle over.
You can also export any article (indeed multiple articles) to your own WordPress website, thus turning any reader into a would-be publisher!
Where the model really gets spicy is v.2 of EzyMashup. Expected for release next month, authors and publishers nominate per-view and republishing (or royalty) fees as they post each article. Every time a premium article is republished the source publisher (and the original author if freelancing) earns a trailing commission. Along the food-chain the cost to the next publisher reduces, which in turn creates stronger value around original, premium content.
Social signals (Likes, Tweets, Linkein shares etc.) will gradually build the profiles of favourite authors and publications and visitors will be able to filter their searches by most popular or personal favourites lists.
The obvious benefits of this intriguing approach to content syndication are:
- The end-users, (us, the public!) can access and influence premium content
- Micro-billing functionality means that professional authors and journalists will once again be appropriately compensated for their skills as users move away from the free-for-all content glut online to premium articles that have been vetted by their peers
- Getting the right mix (‘content curation’)that carries optimal appeal to the publisher’s readership has always been any editor’s biggest challenge. The close bond with social media in this content syndication model makes understanding the readers and their likes/dislikes a lot easier
EzyMashup is fast, simple and appears to answer some difficult questions facing publishers big and small.
So, if you are looking for free content for your newspaper or magazine, or a new way your journalists can start earning you revenues instead of consuming them, you are well advised to checkout EzyMashup.
