Grats to Blendle, but I don't really get the big deal. Isn't this just micro payments on bite sized content? Doesn't this just devolve into a reinforced bubble contest of which articles can get the most people to read them and thus editors (and data science people) know which articles/journalists to invest in? How do you publish unpopular stories in a world where only the popular get paid for?
Well, when you get right down to it, all internet startups essentially focused on 'reading words that were typed into such a box by someone else previously.' [0] :)
The reinforced bubble you speak of is not what we're seeing in the articles being bought, but it is something that has our attention. We love great investigative reporting and journalism. Keeping that alive and nurturing that is our raison d'être.
So if that happens and if we can, we're going to prevent that bubble.
