What is Flattr and how it works.

Flattr is a service that gives you the ability to give and receive micro-donations.

I recently learn about Flattr while visiting a website that provided a free application download. The developer had a “Flattr” button which, when hovered over, it showed the amount of people that have donated to the site, and when clicked, it allowed you to make a contribution to the developer. This is all based on the micro-donation practice, which is a charitable donation made in small amounts. Flattr.com allows you to do just that, to make micro donations very effectively.

Thanks to sites like Flattr, the process of making micro donations is very simple. Once you have an account created and funded you can start micro-donating at will, with a click of a button. How convenient is that! Not only can you make donations but you can also receive donations with the same account.

Another convenient feature is the way you can budget your donations. Once you set a budget, you can donate (Flattr) to as many ‘things’ as you want, without worrying about going over budget or over spending. A ‘Thing’ is anything that you Flattr, which can be a video, a song, a photo, a blog post, a tweet, or software program.

When you click on the Flattr button on a creators web page, your will be making a one time donation. If you would like to make recurring donations to that same creator then all you do is click on their Flattr button again and this will subscribe you to the creator thus making you a monthly supporter. One of the beauties is that you are in control of how much you are contributing each month based on your limit, which can only be modified by you. So say your limit is $10 a month, no matter how many donation you make through out the web, you will never spend more than $10 dollars on that month. The amount just gets divided into the amount of Flattrs (donations) you made that particular month. So say you Flattr 10 creators this month, at the end of the month each will receive $1. If you do not Flattr anything on a particular month, the money stays in your account. This reduces the stress when donating since you don’t have to think too much about how much or how often you should give.

After your account is funded you can start Flattering content by way of a “Like”, a “Star” or a “Favorite” depending on which platform you happen to be on.

Being able to contribute to the creator of a product or content you found valuable, by clicking a button, is just fantastic. It is as simple as clicking ‘Like’ on Facebook except this has direct monetary value.

I consume web content on a daily basis and I can’t count the number of times I have said to myself ‘wow, this was very helpful!’. On the Internet, anyone can be a creator and share great content, and with services like Flattr it is now incredibly easy to give and receive for the ‘things’ that bring you joy. Find out more about Flattr on their web page and start supporting the ‘Things’ you love.