If the latest poll results are any indication, there must be about four blood relatives or close friends who read the blog…
“Would you pay a subscription fee to access Rahway Rising?”
You mean you’d pay me, right? 70 percent (46/65)
How’s a dollar a month sound? 20 percent (13/65)
Name a price — it wouldn’t be enough! 6 percent (4/65)
A buck a week is as high as I’d go; 3 percent (2/65)
$1 per blog post; 0 percent (0/65)
As I mentioned earlier, there are no plans to start a subscription fee for the blog, the latest poll was more a curiosity for me than anything. There are other ways to monetize a blog, through other forms of advertising, but alas, there are only 24 hours in a day and only one of me so I also have no plans to start selling ads in all my spare time. As of today, Rahway Rising is worth anywhere from $222 to $1,693.62, at least according to two site calculators. Sweet.
Here’s another piece I stumbled upon about the future of newspapers and online journalism, which is sort of what prompted my original poll question.
I’ll be taking suggestions for the next blog poll, always looking for ways that readers can be interactive if they don’t feel like commenting. Past suggestions included “Best dry cleaners” and “Best Chinese takeout” in town. Whaddaya think?
Poll suggestions:Best kept secret in RahwayPrettiest location in Rahwayand if you are looking to start trouble: Best Grade School in Rahway
Mark, the problem with blogging is that it is journalism without filters or restraint. In the pre-digital days, a journalist who was inaccurate (or worse) would ideally have his/her errors corrected by an eagle-eyed editor. In our anything-goes age of information, any blogger can post anything he/she wants and demand that it be accepted as a fact.I can see a parallel in our constitutional system of government. Imagine if the Founding Fathers allowed citizens to vote directly on every item of public debate (sorta like initiative & referendum gone wild) rather than our present form – however flawed – of representative democracy.
Best strip club poll?
Best strip club poll? Ha ha…I’ve heard a few pieces on NPR describing the future of journalism as being very bright for the few dozen journalists who keep their jobs with major news outlets. It’s an exciting time however nobody knows for sure what the new model will be. Like many out there, I don’t remember the last time I bought a weekday paper but I’m not about to shell out for online access to nj.com or the New York Times, or any of the blogs I read. Perhaps the way forward for bloggers is that the blog becomes the vehicle for building buzz which in turns leads to paying gigs.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/01/future.online.news.hyperlocal/index.html?iref=t2test_techtuesThe Future of News May be HyperLocal