Flattr

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flattr AB

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 2010
Seat Malmo , Sweden
management Linus Olsson
Branch Social payment
Website www.flattr.com

Flattr is a Swedish social payment service provider that was started in March 2010 by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson. The name Flattr is composed of the term Flatrate (flat fee) and the English verb to flatter (flatter someone).

history

Flattr is a project started by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson. Users donate a monthly amount (currently at least 3 USD), which is split between websites and platforms that have been "flatted" by Flattr's browser extension. "It's about making it easier for people not only to share content, but also to pay money for it - in each case with reference to the content," says Sunde. In the first version of Flattr it was necessary for users to click on a Flattr button on websites if they liked the content.

In March 2010 Flattr was tested in a closed beta version, the beta codes were assigned on the basis of a waiting list. In addition, each active user could generate up to three beta codes. Flattr has been publicly accessible since August 12, 2010.

Flattr spread in the start-up phase especially in German-speaking countries. In 2010, the most flattened text contribution was the article "Terror is here, the muesli is all" by Ranga Yogeshwar . The Tageszeitung (taz) generated the highest income at the beginning of the Flattr introduction : In June 2010 it received a total of 988.50 euros from 5,590 Flattr clicks. The Tageszeitung implemented Flattr in its online presence on May 20, 2010, making it one of the few representatives of the traditional media that was already using Flattr in the beta phase. According to its own information, the newspaper also decided to take this step in order to support the service. By the end of 2010, Flattr's income rose to 1,846 euros in November and 1,312 euros in December. The podcaster Tim Pritlove , who earned up to 2,500 euros a month through flattr in 2012, was flatted particularly often .

In December 2010 Flattr gained a lot of attention when WikiLeaks included the service as a way to donate on its website. Previously, MasterCard, PayPal and Visa had all suspended payments to WikiLeaks.

In the first year, the possibility of receiving money through Flattr was linked to the fact that you yourself flapped at least two euros per month. If there was no more money for the expenditure, the Flattr account was deactivated. Since May 1, 2011 Flattr has refrained from this policy, i. H. you can now also be "fluttered" without actively "flapping" yourself.

Olsson said the service had processed more than a million micro-payments by September 2012. The average budget of the users was 4.50 euros per month. How many participants there were up to then and how high the turnover was, however, was not disclosed.

On April 16, 2013, Twitter announced that Flattr users will no longer be allowed to favor tweets using Flattrn, as this could lead to commercial confusion and confusion among users.

In May 2016 Flattr teamed up with the developer of the ad blocking browser extension Adblock Plus to develop Flattr Plus, a service that allows users to automatically distribute a specific monthly budget to web publishers. The service was designed as a way for users to support online publishers as an alternative to advertising.

On April 5, 2017, eyeo GmbH announced that it had acquired Flattr for an undisclosed amount. eyeo GmbH is the provider of the ad blocker Adblock Plus . Flattr also announced a beta version of a revised "zero-click" version of the service based on the Flattr Plus concept.

On October 24th, 2017 Flattr announced the release of “Flattr 2.0”. This version of Flattr works as a zero-click service for the automatic flattrn of content on the web and on different platforms. In order to receive donations through flattrs, content creators must link their websites or supported platforms.

Supported Platforms

Flattr 2.0 can be used on websites via a meta tag and supports various creator platforms. YouTube , WordPress , Vimeo , Twitter , Twitch , SoundCloud , GitHub , 500px , Instagram , Medium and Flickr are currently supported.

fees

In 2010 Flattr demanded a fee of 10% for usage. In addition, there were possibly fees for the respective payment service.

In September 2012 Flattr abolished the charges for topping up the credit for consumers. Since then, producers only have to pay the 10% fee.

On February 14, 2018, Flattr announced that it would no longer charge any fees with immediate effect. Content creators still have to pay $ 3 per payout for the payment of donations received.

alternative

In addition to Flattr, Kachingle was an attempt to introduce a social payment service for Internet media providers.

Corporate affairs

In 2012 Flattr received 1.6 million euros in funding from Passion Capital Investments, LLP and Federico Pirzio-Biroli. As part of the cooperation with Flattr, eyeo GmbH has also invested in Flattr.

criticism

  • At 10%, the initially charged fees were perceived as high compared to other online payment services .
  • Since there was no separation between content producers and content consumers in the initial phase, content producers also had to pay at least 2 euros per month. This could have led to a redistribution from the smaller providers to larger ones and thus intensified differences. Since May 1, 2011, this rule no longer applies.
  • The total amount of donations per month on a donor's donation account was meanwhile limited to 50 euros.
  • According to Olsson, all passport data of a flattr recipient was stored online for an unlimited period of time.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flattr re-arranges board and stuff! in: Flattr blog from October 13, 2010
  2. ↑ Jörg Reschke: Flattr and Kachingle - a system comparison . Institute for Communication in Social Media. April 27, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b Flattr - Everyone can earn money on the Internet . Berliner Morgenpost. April 22, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ "There is a willingness to pay online" . Southgerman newspaper. May 17, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  5. ↑ Steve O'Hear: Flattr opens to the public, now anybody can 'Like' a site with real money . Techcrunch. August 12, 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  6. ↑ Sebastian Heiser: Flattr sales lower in December . taz.de. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 10, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.taz.de
  7. ↑ Sebastian Heiser: Flattr brings us 988.50 euros in June . taz.de. July 1, 2010. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 1, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.taz.de
  8. ↑ Jannis Kucharz: taz.de records Flattr . netzfeuilleton.de. May 20, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  9. ↑ CARTA: taz.de: "Flattr offered the tool that we always wanted" . CARTA. June 18, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  10. ↑ Matthias Urbach: Flattr sales lower in December . taz.de. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 10, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.taz.de
  11. ↑ Tim Pritlove, blog entry on May 1, 2012
  12. ↑ WikiLeaks continues to fund itself via tech startup Flattr . Techcrunch.com. December 8, 2010. Accessed March 2, 2018.
  13. ↑ dpa : Micro payment service Flattr - Between utopia and pocket money. In: focus.de. Focus Online , September 28, 2012, accessed March 3, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Twitter is forcing us to drop users ability to flattr creators by favoriting their tweets. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (American English).
  15. ↑ Flattr Plus - Pirate Bay founder teams up with Adblock Plus . Spiegel.de. May 3, 2016. Accessed March 2, 2018.
  16. ↑ a b c Adblocker provider Eyeo takes over Flattr . Golem.de. April 5, 2017. Accessed March 2, 2018.
  17. ↑ a b Flattr dares an extensive restart . In: t3n News . ( t3n.de [accessed on May 20, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Flattr new edition pays content creators automatically . heise.de. October 4, 2017. Accessed March 2, 2018.
  19. ↑ Today's the day: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public! Retrieved May 26, 2018 (American English).
  20. ↑ Flattr . Message on the company's Facebook page. September 28, 2012.
  21. ↑ Flattr fees 101. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (American English).
  22. ^ Cat's out of the bag - yes, Flattr now has investors. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (American English).
  23. ↑ Ulrike Schäfer: Donations for the good text . July 20, 2010. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
  24. ↑ Opening the floodgates in: Flattr blog from April 28, 2011
  25. ^ The European Startup Awards 2010 - The Winners and Finalists . Techcrunch.com. November 20, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  26. ↑ Hoola Bandoola Band award. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (American English).