Walled Garden

The term, “Walled Garden,” I first read that in respect to the original version of AOL, what started as the first membership-required kind of online presence. In retrospect, it wasn’t the first, but quickly ascended to the throne of best known.

There will always be that bittersweet tang, as AOL was my first righteous paying gig, and then after mergers and buy-outs, my “Free for Life” account got cancelled. Prior to 1998, that was the single, longest-standing email address I had.

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That’s just business, too. Content might be king, but subsidiaries are subject to market whims.

The horoscopes, my horoscopes, are, by definition, then a Walled Garden, as is, for example other outlets like FaceBook. Yes, that is a Walled Garden, too. The Walled Garden approach has certain benefits, at least, for me as a content producer — I have control over who — or what — sees my material.

So few understand the need to make this a pay-per-view thing, but how it works? I get all kinds of crap mail from some people, and the Walled Grden engenders a tad more respect.

There always was another rejoinder I use only once, “Hey, where can I read the horoscopes you write online?”

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The Walled Garden, when I realized that FaceBook was exactly that, too, the little lightbulb snapped. FB is nothing more than an aggregate of feeds, and posts, like the message boards in days of yore, but still, FB requires a password and valid email to access.

Kind of like what I have set-up, and both, are then, Walled Gardens.

Walled Garden

Still people complain.

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