If you use a podcast app like Fountain that supports Value for Value, you can already send messages to Lightning Podcasts when you press the Boost button and send sats. Right now these messages are only seen by the podcaster and are not displayed on the apps. But wouldn't it be better if they were? And what if you could reply?
We believe that making these messages public by default creates added value for listeners and podcasters. Successful Lightning Podcasts have a segment in each episode where they read out these messages from supporters generate higher engagement and earnings. This interaction makes listeners feel part of a community and creates dialogue between them and the podcaster. This encourages participation - and more generous contributions!
One of the 'holy grails' of the internet is a comments system that allows you to read and respond to comments - regardless of which app you are using to consume the content. With Apple and Spotify continuing to build walled gardens around their platforms, podcasting is crying out for this. Podcasting 2.0 apps can actually work together to develop engagement features like comments using RSS and the Lightning Network as a common language.
As each comment is tied to a Lightning payment, if Fountain is listed as a split we can display Boosts sent from other apps as a comment. This means that a comment sent from a listener on another Podcasting 2.0 app could show on Fountain and you could respond to them.
We made some changes to how Boosts work on Fountain in our 0.3.15 update on iOS and Android.
How it works:
- Boosts sent from Fountain will be displayed in the app unless the user has their Boosts set to private.
- Pay as much as you want to send a Boost or reply to a Boost from another listeners.
- The money you send goes to the podcaster and is shared between the splits for that episode.
- The more sats you send, the higher your Boost appears on the episode screen.
