The NY Times is now charging for its content except for bloggers and Social Media users (including Facebook & Twitter) who are not charged for NY Times content at all. Under the new system for charging, visitors to the NY Times enjoy 20 free articles each month and otherwise the NY Times has a charging scheme that allows paper subscribers to not pay extra.  Other payment options include iPad and/or BlackBerry users who will be charged beyond the 20 free articles. As a matter of fact if a Facebook user wants to sign up on the NY Times website they have to allow the NY Times access to their Facebook profile.

Here’s what Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Publisher of NY Times had to say:

Readers who come to Times articles through links from search engines, blogs and social media will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. This allows new and casual readers to continue to discover our content on the open Web. On all major search engines, users will have a daily limit on free links to Times articles.

The big question is really how the NY Times will use Social Media user data, and what an interesting evolution of news and Social Media! 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *