During the recent PodCamp Dallas 2012 , Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins of SiliconANGLE Network did a great job covering the subject of monetization of podcasts..or anything online.  The term Paywall came up for which nobody but Mark seem to know what it was.

PayWall?  What is it?

The term Paywall according to Mashable…refers to “a system that prevents Internet users from accessing webpage content (most notably news content and scholarly publications) without a paid subscription. There are both "hard" and "soft" paywalls in use. "Hard" paywalls allow minimal to no access to content without subscription, while "soft" paywalls allow more flexibility in what users can view without subscribing. Newspapers have been implementing paywalls on their websites to increase their revenue which has been diminishing due to a decline in print subscriptions and advertising revenue.”

Paywall Kills Social

The point of interest to most people who blog or produce podcasts/Videocast is to how to generate revenue from these media.  Since there are a number of ways to go about monetizing a person’s digital footprint the Paywall is probably the worst to use if you are out to be social.  The Paywall is a huge turn off to people looking to learn more about you..the company or business.  This is where the large broadcast media company fail at understanding the value of social networking.

Of course, there are situations where gathering information on the people who support the site, blog or pod-videocast.  Having someone pay for a subscription to this information could be of value if the information could not be gathering anywhere else.  However, most information anyone offers now days online will eventually be offered by someone else..most likely in a few minutes after they post it.

This is where the “soft” paywall Mashable mentioned would come into play.  Overall, having any obstructions in the way of people to see what you or your company have to say is not good business.

For the most of you it would be best to stay away from using Paywalls and just be open.  As far as the newpapers and others who use Paywalls..well, it could be their days are number if they refuse to find out how social media really works.

Let me know how I can help.