Comments on: Ripple Effect: Fight Poverty with Every Click http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/06/ripple-effect-fight-poverty-with-every-click/ Social Media, Geolocation, and Green Living Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:01:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Max Gladwell http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/06/ripple-effect-fight-poverty-with-every-click/comment-page-1/#comment-282 Max Gladwell Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:26:28 +0000 http://www.maxgladwell.com/?p=297#comment-282 Matt: Thanks for taking the time to clear up a few misconceptions. We'd recommend that "Ripple.org is a nonprofit organization..." appear in the first couple lines of the "About" section. This wasn't clear to us, and donating 100% of the ad revenue doesn't mean you're a registered nonprofit organization. That said, we're still not a fan of any model that has a high potential for gaming the system. I could click each of the four buttons every day and see the same ad. What benefit does that have for the advertiser? There's also no way of telling whether that ad will have any relevance for me, so clicking a button once might be worthless to the advertiser. If you could get people to sign up and volunteer some data about themselves, you'd at least solve that problem. We'll check back with Ripple 2.0 and give it a look. Thanks again. Matt: Thanks for taking the time to clear up a few misconceptions. We’d recommend that “Ripple.org is a nonprofit organization…” appear in the first couple lines of the “About” section. This wasn’t clear to us, and donating 100% of the ad revenue doesn’t mean you’re a registered nonprofit organization.

That said, we’re still not a fan of any model that has a high potential for gaming the system. I could click each of the four buttons every day and see the same ad. What benefit does that have for the advertiser?

There’s also no way of telling whether that ad will have any relevance for me, so clicking a button once might be worthless to the advertiser. If you could get people to sign up and volunteer some data about themselves, you’d at least solve that problem.

We’ll check back with Ripple 2.0 and give it a look. Thanks again.

]]> By: Matt http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/06/ripple-effect-fight-poverty-with-every-click/comment-page-1/#comment-281 Matt Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:27:38 +0000 http://www.maxgladwell.com/?p=297#comment-281 Hi Max, Thanks for your review. A few thoughts on your criticisms. 1. We are a non-profit. We are run by volunteers and all site costs are paid out of our pocket or by other kindly strangers. Our FAQ is quite clear on how much of the money raised is donated... "100%. Every cent. Full stop. Our donations are all authenticated by the charities" 2. Value proposition for the user You are concerned that the 'feel good' from knowing that you are earning money for charity by clicking is not sufficient to attract people. We have had over 350,000 unique visitors since launching our site. Over 7000 people visit our site everyday to click on one of our give buttons. Our traffic continues to grow. Your assessment of the value of that 'feel good' to people is clearly flawed. 3. Value proposition to advertiser We actually provide extraordinarily good quality advertising to advertisers. Our visitor is totally engaged in the ads as they are at the centre of their user experience. We see click through rates which are at 6-7 times the average industry rate. 4. 'Save the world one *blank* at a time' Ha ha....fair point. You got us there...since we chose that tagline it seems to be turning up everywhere! Maybe we'll come up with something better in the future.... Speaking of the future we will soon be launching ripple 2.0 which will have a range of more interactive and community driven features. They may help address some of your concerns. Check back in a few months! Good luck with your blog, it looks great. Hi Max,

Thanks for your review.

A few thoughts on your criticisms.

1. We are a non-profit. We are run by volunteers and all site costs are paid out of our pocket or by other kindly strangers.

Our FAQ is quite clear on how much of the money raised is donated…

“100%. Every cent. Full stop. Our donations are all authenticated by the charities”

2. Value proposition for the user

You are concerned that the ‘feel good’ from knowing that you are earning money for charity by clicking is not sufficient to attract people.

We have had over 350,000 unique visitors since launching our site. Over 7000 people visit our site everyday to click on one of our give buttons. Our traffic continues to grow.

Your assessment of the value of that ‘feel good’ to people is clearly flawed.

3. Value proposition to advertiser

We actually provide extraordinarily good quality advertising to advertisers. Our visitor is totally engaged in the ads as they are at the centre of their user experience. We see click through rates which are at 6-7 times the average industry rate.

4. ‘Save the world one *blank* at a time’

Ha ha….fair point. You got us there…since we chose that tagline it seems to be turning up everywhere! Maybe we’ll come up with something better in the future….

Speaking of the future we will soon be launching ripple 2.0 which will have a range of more interactive and community driven features. They may help address some of your concerns. Check back in a few months!

Good luck with your blog, it looks great.

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