Left Lane

More and more, people are relying on the Internet to support them full-time. A person can conceivably have an entire career on the Internet. Now it seems that person’s life can become more than just a career: it can become a source of entertainment.

I check kottke.org quite regularly. Call it feed magic. When I read his post on how he will be traveling to Asia for three weeks and will be giving the play-by-play with a travelogue on his web site, something clicked in my head. His role as blogger is changing. His “micropatrons,” who donate to his full-time blogging cause, told him to “get out of the house, for the love of God, and go somewhere nice and take pictures and tell us all about it.” Wait, an author that listens to his readers? This is great. It gets better, though.

Kottke’s job as a media/content producer is becoming more apparent. What he is actually doing by taking the donations he has received and going on a trip to Asia is providing his readers with on demand web entertainment. He is reacting to the will of his supporters by giving them what they want. Smart guy. With the tools of wi-fi and a laptop at his disposal, it will be on demand, real time web entertainment, complete with pictures of chopsticks and articles about indigestion. Brilliant.

So why don’t the micropatrons keep the money and go on a pleasant three week joy trip to Asia themselves? Jobs. Family obligations. People are donating to his cause because they are essentially envious of his independence, and jealous that they cannot do the same thing he is doing. I know I am. Besides, with enough people donating small bits of money to a guy whose job it is to entertain his readers, he can do whatever he wants, provided he produces media that his blogging public wants to hear. That’s the unspoken blogging code. Hmm, this concept sounds familar.

Is this a blogging community or a business model? Are the two becoming intertwined so much we must mention micropatrons in the same breath as shareholders? I, for one, will be counting myself among the masses waiting for quality content to be delivered to my feed reader. I hear Asia is nice this time of year.

No pressure.

Posted in Thought, Entertainment, Business, Web.