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lendle is a startup dedicated to improving the online journalistic experience. Built by Alexander Klopping and others in The Netherlands, Blendle is now expanding to the U.S. On Medium.com, Klopping describes Blendle as the Spotify or Netflix of journalism. Through Blendle, readers can browse articles by the Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others and pay $0.09-0.59 for only the articles in which they are interested. Klopping’s goal was to stem the flow of By Cody Crawford click-bait on the web. Some readers might enjoy reading “articles” such as “Naked Man in Times Square Yells ‘Donald Trump,’ Jumps from
Ledge’” or “Malia, Sasha and Michelle Obama are Matchy-Matchy in Madrid.” A recent story on Medium.com, however, reported that Americans are reading a different type of content on Blendle. A top articles read on Blendle in the U.S. is “Fiercely Frail Millennials,” a piece exploring why the generation of young people classified as millennials is so easily offended and seemingly weak. Another, “How to Stay Married,” is hugely insightful, discussing the benefits of staying married in a society where divorce is ever-popular. It seems that, when given a choice, people will pay for good articles. This is good. Ever since the internet became a place to get information, print businesses have struggled. On the internet, content is everywhere. With the rise of ad-blockers, most people don’t even have to look at ads, which have long paid the bills at media companies. Installing an ad blocker takes no more than a few clicks. AdBlock for Safari works
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like a champ, and enabling it instantly removes ads and pop-ups from most web pages. With ad-blockers being so prevalent, media companies must make money by putting their content behind a paywall, which is cost prohibitive for people who want a sampling of articles from multiple websites and sources. A digital subscription to the New York Times costs $6.25 per week, which amounts to $325 a year. If you want to read the Economist and The Washington Post as well, your bill would be $613 for a year. For those with subscriptions who are too busy to sit down and read every single article that comes with it, Blendle is a better option. Articles from multiple sources can be read ad-free, and you pay per article. If you accidentally click on an article or don’t find it interesting, you can get an instant refund. The business model of Blendle has yet to stand the test of time, but it is unique and seems to offer value to both consumers and media companies. Although the company is still in the beta stage, some people who request access are
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approved to get a beta account. I requested access and was approved, and when you create your account, Blendle gives you $2.50 to read articles to see if you like it. Every morning, the staff at Blendle gets up early and selects articles for their Staff Picks section. Blendle also allows readers to browse topics like Politics, Business & Economy and Health & Wellness. It also shows trending articles. Cody Crawford is pursuing her Masters in Computer Science from Middle Tennessee State University and serves as Director of Digital Innovation for Validity Publishing.
Hickman cOUnTY FaRm BUREaU Alan Potts • Agency Manager 825 Hwy 100 • Centerville, TN 37033 Phone: (931) 729-2292 Fax: (931) 729-9921
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