The Monetization of Everything and Anything

Is absolutely everything monetized these days? It's a real question.

Does anyone write, or more pointedly, does anyone write and publish a blog simply for self-expression? 

Or is everyone chasing money for the effort?

Views and followers can signify interest and a connection with readers. It's exciting and rewarding to get and build more views, claps on Medium, and followers; and it's perhaps universal for the writer to appreciate those positive indications that the content they produced has had some appeal.

But increasingly I'm wondering if nowadays it's also universal that those views are only a means to and end: more ad dollars, more conversions to subscribers, more clicks on affiliate links, more conversions on upsell offers.

Does anyone today write and publish a blog just to write and publish a blog?  

My favorite feature is on Medium where any reader can highlight text in an article. It's awesome. I don't have many followers, but I treasure the reader who regularly highlights text in my pieces. It shows me they found something interesting enough to point it out. I love it. 

I started my marketing career around the same time that "monetization" was becoming the buzzword in Silicon Valley. The Netscape browser transformed the internet from a niche, text-based micro-community (yes, the internet was once a niche) to a visual expanse too compelling for the human mind to resist. The focus on the communal and human connection aspects of this revolutionary new communication technology was quickly replaced by an insatiable eagerness to sell people something. Community bulletin boards became corporate billboards.

The commercialization happened fast. The initial model of "giving things away and figuring out how to make money off them later" was at first a necessity.  There was simply no way to conduct a financial transaction. There weren't any payment gateways, much less any security protocols. If you wanted to buy something someone, which people did, you would call them with your credit card and trust that they would send you the item. Or, you'd meet them somewhere public and do the trade in cash. People really did this. A lot. People using craigslist still do.

Now the concept of giving first and getting back later seems entirely corrupted. The giving first, or helping first, doesn't come in the spirit of giving or helping. It only comes as a way to generate awareness, capture leads, and qualify the reader (target market, really) for an eventual purchase.

Am I wrong?

It seems pervasive. The norm. And it's left me wondering -- is there anyone else out there like me? I don't want to put affiliate links in here for a kickback, I don't want more views so I can collect advertising dollars and I don't want your email address so that somewhere down the road I can sell you my book, or someone else's book, or a course on how to write a book, or a cocktail that doesn't cause hangovers, or a powder that will make you young. Or strong. Or virile. Or viral.

I simply don't want that. I just want to connect with people who find something interesting in what I write. Maybe they agree with me. Maybe they don't. I just want to explore some thoughts and interact with other on ideas.

Am I alone here? Is there anyone else like me on this?

A note to the curious: I took the picture of the beer bottle to send to friends who live in the UK and came to love this beer as much as I do during a family vacation we took together. It was a way to say “Cheers!” and not a push for them to buy more. Though the absolutely did!

This is not an advertisement. I just like the beer.