Freemium doesn't mean Free?
Yesterday the twitterverse and plurkoverse exploded with the news that Ning, a social network provider used in a wide variety of ways by educators in our area, will no longer offer free, ad-supported networks. Current free networks will have the opportunity to go premium (paid) or be "migrated" off the Ning servers. This announcement comes with the announcement that Ning is cutting their staff by 40%, as well.
And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Meanwhile, Twitter is dabbling in paid, promoted tweets that linger at the top of search results, and other free online services are trying to figure out if these and other current moves are a sign that free services are not working as a business model after all, or if this is really an opportunity to grab up some of the market share of the free service providers who are faltering.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the ning sites that are out there. Will. for example, 10% of the free networks go premium rather than move off? I suspect that if they do, this move will end up being at least a short term success for Ning.
But the real message, I think, is to those of us who take advantage of free services online. Right now, I use an array of free or freemium tools in my everyday work -- and that's not including open source projects, like Drupal. Here's just a few:
- Evernote
- Dropbox
- Cloudapp
- Hootsuite
- Twitter/Plurk/Facebook
- Ping.fm
- Pandora
- Gmail/Google Reader/Google Docs/Google Wave/Google-tell-me-what-to-eat-for-breakfast
- Youtube
..... and so on.
So, here's the thing. Each of these services is, at the end of the day, a business. I don't know any of the people involved in these businesses, but I'm pretty sure they have husbands and wives and dogs that chew on shoes just like the rest of us. And they like their jobs.
If the trend continues -- and more free or freemium services decide that they need to return to a pay for service model -- the landscape of the web will change dramatically. And I don't think most of us want to see more web services retreat into their paid envelopes like Ning.
My local public radio station is doing a pledge drive right now, so this rhetoric is not exactly new, but I think it's time to think about how you give back for the free services that you take advantage of, especially those that have become an important part of your life and work.
If you use a freemium service, but are just a free user, consider becoming a premium customer. Consider the value of the application to you -- is it worth the price of premium service (yes, dropbox, this means I'm going to go sign up for premium service very, very soon).
If you use an ad-supported service, pick a day a week to pay a little attention to the ads. Click on one or two that you find interesting.
Those advertisers are funding your free service, you might as well give them a little love.
And, otherwise, promote and recommend the services you use -- help spread the word. A little love goes a long way.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/burningkarma/ / CC BY 2.0
