Brave Browser: An Innovative New Online Marketing Paradigm
While the majority of my posts are about analyses of one kind or another, I occasionally come across a new way of thinking or some new endeavor that I feel represents worthwhile knowledge in its own right.
One topic that has fascinated me for some time is the idea of cryptocurrency and the proliferation of alt-coins (crypto that isn't Bitcoin). One day while I was looking around to see what kind of crypto was out there and what may be worth a look, and I stumbled upon a digital currency call BAT (Basic Attention Token). What does a cryptocurrency have to do with a new way that people interact with online marketing, you ask? Well, this crypto is a digital token that is used as the means of rewarding people for their attention, or in other words, viewing an ad. This idea alone turns our typical experience with online advertising on its head.
Let's describe the typical paradigm of online ads and then compare that to this new way of doing things. The typical online ad paradigm, or the "Google paradigm", as I think of it, involves using cookies to track your activity to place targeted ads in dedicated ad space on the various websites that we visit. Google and the domain owners who allow the dedicated ad space on their site reap the revenue from the ads that people view. Some internet sites are so encumbered with ads that it affects your browser's performance. Other webpages have videos that start up automatically when you enter and force you to endure them before you can move on, and the list of ways that ads are crammed down our throats goes on. There's a funny youtube video that talks about this problem (warning: some adult language; TV-14, probably...).
Now don't get me wrong. I believe content producers and people who run successful websites should make money and get paid for what they do. But I feel that we are in an epoch where we have begun to run up against,
70% of the revenue from online ads go to the viewer, and are paid in BAT (yes, this is how cryptocurrency is relevant) on a monthly basis. Accrued BAT can be donated by the user to websites and content creators as you see fit. Although, these sites need to be registered with Brave in order to receive donations. Additionally, you can hold on to your ad earnings, as well. You'll just need to register through Uphold (an online digital currency banker, like Coinbase)
There are some definite good things that you could support this way, such as open-source projects. For example, Retropie does the world a favor by providing easy access to a Rasberry Pi application that can run a retro gaming station. I would donate to this in heart beat as they truly deserve it. I also blog about R most of the time so I would donate to the R foundation or people who produce useful R libraries this way without having to give them a slice of my paycheck.
The web browser itself blocks online ads and trackers to keep that ad encroachment out of sight, and is based on Google Chrome so it works the same. In my experience, the browser works generally well, but does occasionally have struggles with some websites because it is blocking aspects of the webpage. 98% of the time things work just fine and sometimes better than normal because the browser isn't being encumbered by ad animations or such things that can slow it down. Lastly, you do view ads while using this browser but you are prompted to view them and are given the option to view or decline. If you do choose view the ad, then it opens a separate tab and doesn't disturb whatever you are working on. This is good for advertisers as well as the ad is given undivided attention, if but for a moment.
Please go to Brave and check this out to learn more, or acquire the browser. For those of you who are interested in cryptocurrency, you can be rewarded with free crypto if you do so through Coinbase. They have incentives for viewing a few educational videos about the currency and they'll reward you with free BAT if you watch the videos and acquire the browser. May not be worth doing if you don't do business with Coinbase, but I figured I'd share so people can get the most out of it.
I hope you found this post enlightening regardless of whether or not you care about using the Brave browser. In the very least, I think this is an interesting and innovative idea, and worth peoples' attention.
One topic that has fascinated me for some time is the idea of cryptocurrency and the proliferation of alt-coins (crypto that isn't Bitcoin). One day while I was looking around to see what kind of crypto was out there and what may be worth a look, and I stumbled upon a digital currency call BAT (Basic Attention Token). What does a cryptocurrency have to do with a new way that people interact with online marketing, you ask? Well, this crypto is a digital token that is used as the means of rewarding people for their attention, or in other words, viewing an ad. This idea alone turns our typical experience with online advertising on its head.
Let's describe the typical paradigm of online ads and then compare that to this new way of doing things. The typical online ad paradigm, or the "Google paradigm", as I think of it, involves using cookies to track your activity to place targeted ads in dedicated ad space on the various websites that we visit. Google and the domain owners who allow the dedicated ad space on their site reap the revenue from the ads that people view. Some internet sites are so encumbered with ads that it affects your browser's performance. Other webpages have videos that start up automatically when you enter and force you to endure them before you can move on, and the list of ways that ads are crammed down our throats goes on. There's a funny youtube video that talks about this problem (warning: some adult language; TV-14, probably...).
Now don't get me wrong. I believe content producers and people who run successful websites should make money and get paid for what they do. But I feel that we are in an epoch where we have begun to run up against,
- A saturation point where people are fed up with ads being crammed down our throats, and
- Ethically grey areas where online trackers and cookies increasingly invade our privacy.
70% of the revenue from online ads go to the viewer, and are paid in BAT (yes, this is how cryptocurrency is relevant) on a monthly basis. Accrued BAT can be donated by the user to websites and content creators as you see fit. Although, these sites need to be registered with Brave in order to receive donations. Additionally, you can hold on to your ad earnings, as well. You'll just need to register through Uphold (an online digital currency banker, like Coinbase)
There are some definite good things that you could support this way, such as open-source projects. For example, Retropie does the world a favor by providing easy access to a Rasberry Pi application that can run a retro gaming station. I would donate to this in heart beat as they truly deserve it. I also blog about R most of the time so I would donate to the R foundation or people who produce useful R libraries this way without having to give them a slice of my paycheck.
The web browser itself blocks online ads and trackers to keep that ad encroachment out of sight, and is based on Google Chrome so it works the same. In my experience, the browser works generally well, but does occasionally have struggles with some websites because it is blocking aspects of the webpage. 98% of the time things work just fine and sometimes better than normal because the browser isn't being encumbered by ad animations or such things that can slow it down. Lastly, you do view ads while using this browser but you are prompted to view them and are given the option to view or decline. If you do choose view the ad, then it opens a separate tab and doesn't disturb whatever you are working on. This is good for advertisers as well as the ad is given undivided attention, if but for a moment.
Please go to Brave and check this out to learn more, or acquire the browser. For those of you who are interested in cryptocurrency, you can be rewarded with free crypto if you do so through Coinbase. They have incentives for viewing a few educational videos about the currency and they'll reward you with free BAT if you watch the videos and acquire the browser. May not be worth doing if you don't do business with Coinbase, but I figured I'd share so people can get the most out of it.
I hope you found this post enlightening regardless of whether or not you care about using the Brave browser. In the very least, I think this is an interesting and innovative idea, and worth peoples' attention.
Comments
Post a Comment