Several in the New Hampshire dead tree press, and their digital protrusions, are jumping on the latest trend in information sharing (or lack of it, actually), the registration wall. The registration wall is similar to the pay-wall except that you can receive limited access (or metered) content for free, but only up to a point. It’s the velvet rope that leads to another velvet rope from which you can see through the open door, but no more. It’s like a peep show. People who want more will have to pony up their PayPal account (or any approved credit-card) for unlimited access. It’s the front page viewed through the bin. Drop in some change and you get to see what is inside.
This old frontier on the new frontier has or is being embraced by many of New Hampshire’s media ‘titans.’ Before you get to peek they want you to register, give up your email so they can tease you with headlines, and a password; six or more characters, letters and numbers, no tildas or ampersands or pound keys–oh my!
"Sorry that password is already taken." The goal? It can’t be traffic or money.
Take a look at the New York times for a clue. The graph pictured here gives you some idea as to the likely path to failure from a meter based viewing scheme with the option to buy.
Want to see something else startling, look here.
OK. So it won’t work for one of the worlds most well know left wing rags. But is local news compelling enough content to attract more people than might already be bothered to purchase the dead tree edition, (or a full boat digital subscription), on a platform that has little if any tolerance for distraction or delay, and trillions of other choices just one caffeinated-energy-drink-A.D.D-twitchy-mouse-click away?
They don’t even have to be better choices. Five seconds is five seconds too long and a death knell to your life-expectancy as a viable content provider. I’m wondering if they considered that? Or how about this?
Will the people doing the most sharing, bloggers and media junkies like us here at the Grok, offer up a locked box to their readers that asks for some information before they can peek inside? Speaking from experience, I’d say no. I’m not about to aggravate my readers by linking to something that may only frustrate them. When was the last time I linked to an article by Pindell? Never? It’s not a reflection on his work or it’s quality, by the way. It’s the nature of the medium.
Hey! Reader! Go here, fill out a form, maybe drop some scratch, and then check out this piece of news I found! It’s great. Just take care of the paperwork, you might be asked to sign up for an annoying newsletter, or a "round up" of some sort, and then you can read what I just told you about…again.
Our devoted readers might take the time to register for the free stuff, or they may stop taking interest in what we choose to share. They might even stop taking interest in us. New readers, the mothers milk of any growing internet foot print, could be turned off entirely. So rather than aggravate them on a chip shot whim that they are already a registered user at "insert source of content.com," I’ll look someplace else myself, or just nab a fair use quote, attribute it, and remark on it. No link. No cross traffic. My free content becomes THE content.
Will a few people follow up and seek the peep show/lock-box source? A few, but not many. Mostly people who are already registered or paying for access. Why? I’ll use the trusted adage of lonely bachelors who refuse to get married. "Why pay for the milk when you can get it for free." The internet is too big and too busy to even waste time signing in to an account you bothered to set up, unless you have a vested interest in the source or the content, or are some kind of addict for that content. And even then, my own interest is diminsihed. I will be spending less and less time on those pages myself.
So the registration wall, in my opinion, will only turn off readers, much the way the pay-wall has.
The social media universe is grounded on sharing content. Free content for the most part. If we in Social Media had commandments, and in some corners we do,
Thou Shalt share the content of others, would be near the top of the list. As much as 60-70% of your content should be shared–as in someone elses stuff. This allows you to keep a fresh stream of information that not only provides your audience with a broader palette but encourages the content creators you share to share your content with their audience as well. You share, they share, we all share–and that drives page views.
Multiply that by the number of bloggers and content sharers who pump out information to hundreds of millions of more casual readers every day and the numbers get large very quickly.
I can expect thousands of views every day for things I’ve linked to, written, or commented on. And on the internet, this is not a large number, unless you are talking about content from a local news source. I add my thoughts to their news and create something new. Something that may bring a new or casual reader to their web space. But if I know a source is less accessible, or in the case of pay walls inaccessible, I won’t link to it. Ill find another source or I’ll quote it, attribute it, and leave it at that. There will be no cross traffic. No potential new fan of their site.
And that’s fine. It is a business decision. But as someone who produces content for free (as a hobby), I’m not sure I see a future for it. How does this add page views or new unique visits? I don’t think it does. The registration screens themselves, having to stop to log in to sites I have registered at, is more time than I want to spend to access whatever it is they have to offer. And if a blogger and news-junkie can’t be bothered, how much further is the average web surfer going to go?
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Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, blogger, and a member of the Board of directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor of GraniteGrok.com, a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.
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