Browse Twitter long enough and you’re likely to come across someone tweeting, “I can’t believe this website is free”. It’s an utterance that gets spoken on Twitter daily and it has become somewhat of a motto or rallying cry of sorts for the fledgling social media site. There’s just one problem: Twitter may not be free much longer. With speculation running rampant that they may soon adapt a subscription based model, at least for power users, that would help counteract declining ad revenues.
If Twitter does adapt a subscription model they would join a long line of media companies and publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and Wired that have adapted paywalls or article limits over the last few years. And I get it. These news outlets have bills to pay and reporters to support. Journalistic integrity isn’t cheap. Paywalls may be annoying but they are an obvious business model in response to the Internet effectively killing the sales of physical newspapers and magazines. These entities have to raise revenue somehow.
But what if there was a better way? A way for consumers to get all the news they could ever want and for publishers to still get paid without having to nickle and dime everyone who wants to read one of their articles? Well, maybe there is. All we’d have to do is create a Netflix for News. A paywall aggregator that would combine a bunch of media companies and popular websites into a single bundle.
Think of it like paying for cable TV. For a single monthly price, say $40 a month, you would gain access to dozens and dozens of channels or in this case websites normally hidden behind paywalls that you could then browse at your leisure. Like having the key to a city you would have free run of the place with unlimited access to all of the content on the sites that you subscribe to.
There could even be different tiers with some users paying $10 a month for unlimited access to five sites while others pay $20 a month for unlimited access to ten sites and so on. Better yet you could even make this entire network of sites a platform onto itself, similar to Onlyfans or Patreon, with exclusive content made available only to subscribers that ordinary visitors to these sites would never see or even know about.
It’s a win-win situation. The participating websites gain access to revenue they normally wouldn’t get, even if that is just a small percentage of the overall revenue collected per user. After all, a few pennies here and there adds up when multiplied by millions of users. And end users reap the benefits as well gaining access to their favorite sites and exclusive content at a much cheaper rate than if they subscribed to each site individually.
Personally, I would never pay for access to any single site but I would gladly pay for access to everything I’d ever want. Especially if what is offered is a wide array of publications covering a broad spectrum of interests from sports and entertainment to news and opinions. A sentiment shared by many others I’m sure. Especially if this paywall aggregator is further integrated into Twitter’s eventual subscription model turning Twitter into a one stop source for all matter and means of information gathering. A far cry from the doomscrolling hellscape it currently is.
Considering everything going on in the world right now – the politically charged climate, all the fake news, a pivotal upcoming election – it is extremely important that we get truthful, accurate news into the hands of the people as soon as possible instead of trapping them inside of filter bubbles perpetuated by negative feedback loops. Hiding valuable information behind a paywall doesn’t do anyone any good. It’s time that we liberated it and gave the people what they want. All the content they can handle. Whatever they want. Whenever they want it.
Is a paywall aggregator the Greatest Idea Ever?
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