If you haven’t heard about it, and that’s ok as it’s still really new, flattr is a social micro-payment service.
In simple terms it provides a means for creative individuals to receive payment from fans of their creations, although in practice the flattr system is far from being a conventional form of payment.
As a user of flattr (I just signed up today) I am expected to pay at least 2 euros a month into my ‘for flattring’ account. During the month I am free to ‘flattr’ as many other people’s work as I like by clicking on icons such the following.
If you are a flattr user then by all means feel free to click! 😉
At the end of the month my 2 euros is divided evenly between all the people whose work I flattrd that month. If I haven’t flattrd anyone, my money goes to charity. If I haven’t paid in my 2 euros, none of my work can be flattrd.
At the moment, with a limited membership and invites required in order to sign-up, the amount of content available for me to flattr seems uninspiring. That said I have attached some of my own content (stories, political blog posts, diy composting wormery instructions) which I am hoping will sufficiently inspire others to get back some of the money that they system will inevitably make me spend.
As a principle, social micro-payments plays perfectly with the notion of free culture. It provides a much-needed reward mechanism that can rest alongside freely distributed under, for example, creative commons licences.
To learn more, please visit the flattr.com website, and perhaps even watch a video (in English) with one of the flattr founders.
Once registration is thrown open to all, and if the system gets enough users to become mainstream, we can regularly expect many of our favourite websites to add flattr icons along with the rest of their social links. Then, and only then, when there is sufficient content that actually has sufficient value to me that I want to reward it, will I feel comfortable that my 2 euros a month is going to worthy destinations.