Free is the prevailing business model of the online world, but this way of doing business is costing us too much.

1. THE
PARADOX
OF FREE
Image by Nathan Congleton
By William Macfarlane

2. Free is the prevailing
business model of the
online world
Image by Thomas Hawk

3. Giving away services and
software is the fastest way
to build a large network of
users
Image by Elventear

4. And popularity is the
currency of the web
Image by Emanuele Rosso

5. The freeconomy motto:
“Be the first to give away
what others charge for”
Examples: Craiglist
Wikipedia
Skype
Image by Piermario
- Chris Anderson (Wired)

6. Ironically, the free business
model is making a lot of money
Evernote, Twitter and Facebook
are all free and worth over
1 Billion USD
Image by Johnny Vulkan

7. Consumers get things for
free and developers make
money for their good work
This looks like a
win-win situation
Image by Eviloars

8. But, getting things for free
comes with a heavy price
Image by dalioPhoto

9. Like privacy

10. The price we pay for a “free”
Facebook is the sale of our
personal information, used for
user-specific advertising
Image by Ian B. Line

11. "The only way to get around
the privacy problems
inherent in advertising-
supported social networks
is to pay for services that
we value"
Image by Frederic Poirot
- Alexis Madrigal (The Atlantic)

12. Because “when the product
is free, you are the product”
- Ellis Hamburger (The Verge)
Image by *L

13. There are also significant
expenses hidden in
externalities- the costs that
aren’t reflected in price
Image by US Marine Corp

14. For example, the energy
expense of two google
searches is approximately
the same amount as boiling
a kettle of water
Image by Benjamin Lehman

15. The total amount of google
searches in 2011 was
1,722,071,000,000
Image by Benjamin Lehman

16. This environmental tax is
the price we pay for
google’s “free” service
a
Image by Agustan Ruiz

17. The freeconomy has also
brought about serious
challenges for the app
world
Image by Pamhule

18. The price of our free app
culture is software that
often lacks accountability
to those who use it
Image by Hani Amir

19. Free apps are frequently
bought out by large
companies, severing the
apps relationship to its
users
Examples:
Oink
Stamped
Punchfork
Image by Pascal Charest

20. "I really liked Punchfork, this sucks.
It is a major pain to pull all of my
information out. I don’t have the time
time to move all 231 Likes.”
- TechCrunch commenter Kevin Rank
Image by dgies

21. There has been an out cry
from developers that the
only way for a healthy app
culture to exist is if more
people pay and more
developers charge
Image by Dave Whitley

22. "Whether it’s in advertising,
selling your data, or losing
the service altogether, I think
users are starting to see the
cost of choosing free apps
and services”
Image by Stephen Geyer
- Paul Mayne (Day One founder)

23. We all love free things, but
maybe this freeconomy is
not serving us as well as
one where we paid a little
more
Image by Mark Nye

24. “When the transaction is
between you and the people
who made the thing you want,
there is a great relationship - a
responsibility - that you don't
get any other way"
Image by Ed Ivanushkin
- David Chartier(AgileBits)

25. The paradox
here is that
free is just too
expensive
Image by Slayer925

26. Sources
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3835724/the-price-of-app
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free?cur
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_Money_Around_Free_Con
http://appcubby.com/blog/the-sparrow-opportunity/
http://www.economist.com/node/10094757
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/why
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advertising-revenue-facebo
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/02/21/how-muc
Image by Bethan

27. All images are licensed
under the Creative
Commons Non-Commercial
Share-Alike 3.0 agreement
and sourced from flickr
Image by Cameron Russell