In Age of Pokemon GO, ConnectPal’s model reiterates importance of paying content creators

Earlier this month, the world was awed when pop culture sensation Pokemon GO was released. The game, which prompts users to collect valuable digital pocket monsters from various landmarks and locations around a given location, is being hailed not only as the most successfully virtual reality game of all time, it is also being credited with bringing groups together, getting people up and moving. http://www.pokemongo.com/

Even though Pokemon GO is a game, it is also clearly a social network that unites like-minded — in this case, Pokemon hunters — with each other, just like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

There is no way around it, in less than a decade and a half, social networking has completely changed the way we engage and interact with the world, and Pokemon GO is only the latest example.

While social media keeps us entertained with photos of our friends’ babies and cute kittens, its widespread popularity is quickly creating a digital landscape so overgrown with superfluous information, it is often hard to wade through all the cacophonous cyber chatter and find what one is actually looking for. http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/

Unrelenting digital noise isn’t the only result of social media saturation — a problem that has plagued social media and the internet since its inception is providing monetization capabilities for those who use the internet to share original content.

“The free sharing internet culture needs to become a paying culture if the creative class is to reap the commercial rewards of its labors. Payment models are sure to evolve with the application of new tools,” notes technology writer Rhonda Hurwitz. http://www.icopyright.com/content-licensing/3-emerging-content-monetization-strategies-worth-a-look

In an effort to help bloggers, vloggers, journalists, writers and other creators who use the internet to share their work, there have been several monetization tools unveiled over the years. Despite being well-intentioned, a vast majority of these tools have proven difficult to implement and manage, which in many ways has forced digital creators to continue offering their work free of charge.

In 2014, ConnectPal the first digital marketplace of its kind launched. Designed to serve as social media platform and content marketplace, ConnectPal’s easy-to-use website has proven successful where other platforms have failed. https://www.connectpal.com/

ConnectPal’s success is largely based on the website’s user-friendly interface (http://usdailyreview.com/startup-profile-connectpal/) that allows members to quickly sign-up, set a profile access price and then begin uploading content. Behind the scenes, ConnectPal takes care of all the billing details and tech related stuff, leaving creators to do what they do best: create content. https://twitter.com/connectpaltech

“YouTubers, writers, cartoonists, musicians, artists—creators of all kinds—are in an amazing position to build a business around the large and loyal audiences that consume their work,” points out Braveen Kumar, Shopify writer. https://www.shopify.ca/blog/117906117-the-audience-first-approach-to-monetizing-your-content-with-lessons-from-wait-but-why

Kumar goes on to explain that the element of the internet may be new, however, the concept of paying/supporting an artist or creator for working dates back to the Victorian era when patronages ensured artists didn’t starve. In today’s online world, the patron is comprised of the many people that make up a creator’s audience.

As Hurwitz said, “Ultimately, the market will decide the value of content, but our bet is on a technology solution that gives content creators new opportunities to thrive on doing what they love.” http://www.icopyright.com/content-licensing/3-emerging-content-monetization-strategies-worth-a-look