Paycento Gambles on Microtransactions - KnowHowTips.com

Would you be willing to pay a full-year subscription just to read an interesting article about Mustang parts, politics or entertainment online? If you?re like most people, you?d probably say no, and that?s a problem for online newspapers. With print sales declining rapidly, newspapers increasingly look to the Internet not just for profits, but basic survival. A full-year subscription may appeal to those who like to read the Sunday paper from cover to cover, but occasional article readers far outnumber a newspaper?s regular readers.

A Belgium company called Paycento hopes to provide newspapers with a simply solution: a one-click payment system for small transactions. The company believes that users will be more likely to pay small microtransactions if they don?t need to fill out forms or provide credit card information. The reader who won?t pay for a full newspaper subscription might be quite willing to part with a nickel to read an intriguing article. Paycento?s business model could also include payments for music downloads or any small service transaction.

How Paycento Works

Paycento works ? or plans to work ? by tapping into the vast world of social media. Many people log into Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn pretty much permanently. Paycento hopes to take advantage of this by tying users? Paycento accounts to their social media accounts. Users can then make micro-purchases using single-click buttons similar to ?like? and ?share? buttons.

A single-click, no hassle sales button would make it financially viable for businesses and publishers to offer services at very low rates. Suddenly a newspaper could charge a few cents for access to a Ford Mustang parts article, their lifestyle section or even the daily crossword.

Will it Work?

As of 2012, Paycento was running private beta tests in Europe and raising capital for a full-fledged product launch. A one-click microtransaction process certainly has the potential to revolutionize online business models, but will Paycento?s ambitious plan work?

Commentators such as Media Bistro?s Shea Bennett have some doubts. Bennett points out that Social Media identities are easy to fake, so Paycento would need some way of verifying users? true identities. If Paycento needs to take this precaution, Bennett wonders why the company would even bother going through the social media sites at all.

Perhaps more importantly, Bennett speculates that social media sites could cut Paycento right out of the picture and offer microtransactions themselves. If this scenario plays out, Paycento will be shouldered out of business pretty quickly. Then again, that would require users to provide financial details directly to social media sites. Given the shaky history social media has with privacy and security, using a third-party source such as Paycento might prove more attractive to users. After all, would you trust Facebook with your Visa account?

This guest post contributed by CJ a tech enthusiast, with special interest in online business transactions, whether they involve high end furnishings or CJ Pony Ford Mustang parts.?

Tags: belgium company, business models, company believes that, credit card information, daily crossword, ford mustang, ford mustang parts, hassle sales, intriguing article, lifestyle section, music downloads, occasional article, profits, publishers, sunday paper

brooke mueller all star weekend lent undercover boss barbara walters tupelo honey limp bizkit