Are We Entitled to Free?

I think it does apply to newer users. I believe there to be two factors that contribute to it - first, popular major sites are still free (think Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Pandora), and second, even before someone opens their first web browser, they're still aware that "everything" online is free. Even those that haven't been online yet know what Google is, and they likely know that it's free. They hear people on TV or on the radio say things like "users of the free social media service Facebook..." - and those are adults. For kids who have been online since age 3 (like my daughter, now 4) they learn early that everything is free because the sites they're allowed to visit (PBSKids, NickJr) are free.I'm on board with the idea of charging for content the same way that I'm on board with charging for a newspaper or a magazine. I don't think everything should be free because the content producers need to make a living. To me, the question is, is it too late to stop the "everything online is free" mentality? It's hard to do when everything* is, in fact, free. (*not /everything/ but you get my meaning).

Hi Daniel, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts in the conversation.You make some valid points, and for long time Internet users I think that would apply. But does that same train of thought apply to the millions of users that are new to the online world?

I don't think that the expectation of free is a recent phenomenon. In fact, I think we can trace it back to the earliest days of Usenet and the early days of what would become the world wide web. The internet was at first an educational tool, and all one needed was access - students often got access for free. Usenet was always free, and early websites were all free. It was only after the web went commercial that this problem started... all of a sudden, some people wanted to charge for information or site access. A lot of people expect free because when it comes to the internet, that's quite literally always been the way of it.I'm not saying it's right or fair, but that's my observation. If monetization and site access charges had been the norm from the beginning, I don't think we'd be having this discussion.

I always love it when you drop by Danny! And I wasn't aware of the promotion aspect at all, I had simply seen the post and the comments made there. And different opinions and 'free' thinking is what makes life so much more interesting! How boring would it be if we all agreed all the time?! :D

I think most of the "disagreement" was with how his friend Chris Brogan positioned it. He'd tweeted about it being free; his blog post promoting it again promoted it as free. Chris has leveraged his community to put him in a position of trust, and maybe a few folks thought he'd misled them?From the comments over on Chris's post, I don't think it was so much disappointment at "not getting something for nothing", more that it had been built up to be something it wasn't. That, and the fact the video wasn't exactly earth-shattering - it didn't really sell the book to you.But hey, we all have different opinions - and that's the beauty of "free" (thinking) ;-)

There's lots more where that came from, I'm a futurist at heart, I see things that will keep you thinking for a long while. I saw the link to this article on twitter, it grabbed my attention (the new currency) and I had to read it.Keep up the good work.

Interesting points Owen, and definitely not something I had considered, so you certainly got me thinking. :) (I love it when my readers give me pause for thought!)Of course as someone who loves to teach and help others, I would like to think it is worth something, and helpful to boot. Great to see you stopping by!

Thanks Laurie,I agree that regardless of this wave of entitlement to free that we're dealing with, there are always people out there that are going to recognize value when they see it and be willing to pay. I think my frustration comes from the number of virtual assistants that contact me looking for help in starting out or getting new clients that are unwilling to invest in items (not just my items btw) that would ultimately help them. Always great to see you stopping by!

Hi There, In the future much of what is available today will indeed be free, why? It can be copied. Currently the Internet is a giant copy machine, everything is ubiquitous and easy to get for the most part. We will however pay for what is scarce, but you the producer won't decide it's value, it will be the people formerly known as consumers. If it's important, good information or product, quality content, then maybe people will buy it, you won't be able to force people to buy in the next 5 years or so. The YES, NO & MAYBE buying process will be adopted when the other 3 Billion people arrive online, and thats happening as we speak.The old business model of putting things behind walls will not generate new money, it will merely enforce PFE, Proudly Found Elsewhere. We need to find a balance between what content should be free, and what should be paid for. Jim is right, is the free helping you meet your goals, if your focus is money, and only money, you will lose in the big picture. But if you give yourself away, your content, and are found helpful, the money will follow the free content.Just my thinking out loud : )

Thanks for adding your thoughts Shawn! And your experience. I've had people complain about everything from the length of a free report to the fact that the free item wasn't in-depth enough, so I'm not surprised by the fact that creating an account somewhere would stir some people up. Again, thanks for dropping by and sharing.

I've found that truly free brings out the rage in some folks.I used to sell an annual stat report called AffStat for $129 per copy. Two years ago, I decided to make it free, so I could get much wider distribution, since that was more valuable currency to me than cash.Anyhow, I put the report up on scribd.com, and they allow full viewing without a login, but require an account (free and takes a couple seconds) if you want to download a document.There were a number of people who were beside themselves at the prospect of creating a free account on Scribd to download a report of new, relevant data to them.

Jim,Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on free. I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoy free as much as the next person, but I think I miss the time when free was an exciting bonus (like the prize in the crackerjack box). In the past year or so, I've not only been disillusioned by those that expect everything for free, but also those that actually have complained about what they have received...for free. That doesn't mean I don't still provide useful information for free, because as you said, it depends on what you're goals are. I still want to provide people with useful information at no cost, but I also would like them to recognize that some of the knowledge that I would like to share with them has value.

Great points. And thanks for picking up my link. My story aside, here are my thoughts on free. Free is great. It's the expectation of things being free that stinks, as you explain so well.I sell stuff, and I give stuff away free. Both work great to reach my goals, whatever they may be. The key is, is your "free" meeting your goals, or are you just going free without a plan?

I think it does apply to newer users. I believe there to be two factors that contribute to it - first, popular major sites are still free (think Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Pandora), and second, even before someone opens their first web browser, they're still aware that "everything" online is free. Even those that haven't been online yet know what Google is, and they likely know that it's free. They hear people on TV or on the radio say things like "users of the free social media service Facebook..." - and those are adults. For kids who have been online since age 3 (like my daughter, now 4) they learn early that everything is free because the sites they're allowed to visit (PBSKids, NickJr) are free.

I'm on board with the idea of charging for content the same way that I'm on board with charging for a newspaper or a magazine. I don't think everything should be free because the content producers need to make a living. To me, the question is, is it too late to stop the "everything online is free" mentality? It's hard to do when everything* is, in fact, free.

(*not /everything/ but you get my meaning).

Hi Daniel, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts in the conversation.
You make some valid points, and for long time Internet users I think that would apply. But does that same train of thought apply to the millions of users that are new to the online world?

I don't think that the expectation of free is a recent phenomenon. In fact, I think we can trace it back to the earliest days of Usenet and the early days of what would become the world wide web. The internet was at first an educational tool, and all one needed was access - students often got access for free. Usenet was always free, and early websites were all free. It was only after the web went commercial that this problem started... all of a sudden, some people wanted to charge for information or site access. A lot of people expect free because when it comes to the internet, that's quite literally always been the way of it.

I'm not saying it's right or fair, but that's my observation. If monetization and site access charges had been the norm from the beginning, I don't think we'd be having this discussion.

I always love it when you drop by Danny! And I wasn't aware of the promotion aspect at all, I had simply seen the post and the comments made there.

And different opinions and 'free' thinking is what makes life so much more interesting! How boring would it be if we all agreed all the time?! :D

I think most of the "disagreement" was with how his friend Chris Brogan positioned it. He'd tweeted about it being free; his blog post promoting it again promoted it as free. Chris has leveraged his community to put him in a position of trust, and maybe a few folks thought he'd misled them?

From the comments over on Chris's post, I don't think it was so much disappointment at "not getting something for nothing", more that it had been built up to be something it wasn't. That, and the fact the video wasn't exactly earth-shattering - it didn't really sell the book to you.

But hey, we all have different opinions - and that's the beauty of "free" (thinking) ;-)

There's lots more where that came from, I'm a futurist at heart, I see things that will keep you thinking for a long while. I saw the link to this article on twitter, it grabbed my attention (the new currency) and I had to read it.

Keep up the good work.

Interesting points Owen, and definitely not something I had considered, so you certainly got me thinking. :) (I love it when my readers give me pause for thought!)
Of course as someone who loves to teach and help others, I would like to think it is worth something, and helpful to boot.

Great to see you stopping by!

Thanks Laurie,
I agree that regardless of this wave of entitlement to free that we're dealing with, there are always people out there that are going to recognize value when they see it and be willing to pay. I think my frustration comes from the number of virtual assistants that contact me looking for help in starting out or getting new clients that are unwilling to invest in items (not just my items btw) that would ultimately help them.
Always great to see you stopping by!

Hi There, In the future much of what is available today will indeed be free, why? It can be copied. Currently the Internet is a giant copy machine, everything is ubiquitous and easy to get for the most part. We will however pay for what is scarce, but you the producer won't decide it's value, it will be the people formerly known as consumers. If it's important, good information or product, quality content, then maybe people will buy it, you won't be able to force people to buy in the next 5 years or so. The YES, NO & MAYBE buying process will be adopted when the other 3 Billion people arrive online, and thats happening as we speak.

The old business model of putting things behind walls will not generate new money, it will merely enforce PFE, Proudly Found Elsewhere. We need to find a balance between what content should be free, and what should be paid for.

Jim is right, is the free helping you meet your goals, if your focus is money, and only money, you will lose in the big picture. But if you give yourself away, your content, and are found helpful, the money will follow the free content.

Just my thinking out loud : )

Thanks for adding your thoughts Shawn! And your experience. I've had people complain about everything from the length of a free report to the fact that the free item wasn't in-depth enough, so I'm not surprised by the fact that creating an account somewhere would stir some people up.
Again, thanks for dropping by and sharing.

I've found that truly free brings out the rage in some folks.

I used to sell an annual stat report called AffStat for $129 per copy. Two years ago, I decided to make it free, so I could get much wider distribution, since that was more valuable currency to me than cash.

Anyhow, I put the report up on scribd.com, and they allow full viewing without a login, but require an account (free and takes a couple seconds) if you want to download a document.

There were a number of people who were beside themselves at the prospect of creating a free account on Scribd to download a report of new, relevant data to them.

Jim,
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on free. I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoy free as much as the next person, but I think I miss the time when free was an exciting bonus (like the prize in the crackerjack box).
In the past year or so, I've not only been disillusioned by those that expect everything for free, but also those that actually have complained about what they have received...for free.
That doesn't mean I don't still provide useful information for free, because as you said, it depends on what you're goals are. I still want to provide people with useful information at no cost, but I also would like them to recognize that some of the knowledge that I would like to share with them has value.

Great points. And thanks for picking up my link.

My story aside, here are my thoughts on free. Free is great. It's the expectation of things being free that stinks, as you explain so well.

I sell stuff, and I give stuff away free. Both work great to reach my goals, whatever they may be. The key is, is your "free" meeting your goals, or are you just going free without a plan?

This is a great post Tina! I enjoy free information as much as the next person, but I've lately wondered where it all ends. I think if you feel your product is worth a price then you have to set the bar and leave it in place. Take care!