Re:I Visited 49 Sites. Hundreds of Trackers Followed Me
by dredmorbius on Friday August 23, 2019 @11:29AM
(#20778624)
The value prop likely varies greatly -- if you're making a living off being a "Facebook Influencer", or are running brand awareness through social, you'll be willing to pay a lot, possibly thousands, even millions, of dollars.
For the long tail at the bottom, a few bucks is too much.
And if you're just socialising with a small group, ultimately, the next available free-tier service, or Frank or Francine spinning up a Friendica node or Mailman instance is a viable alternative (or if not that than something else).
Keep in mind that FB started as a small exclusive network (a few hundreds of Harvard undergrads), and grew largely through cache and aspirational appeal. (danah boyd has developed this idea at length.) Now, it has at best neutral appeal other than it's where everybody is, which, if they go somewhere else, it instantly loses. And sticking everyone with a high fee will do that.
Also, the costs of revenue -- of simply billing for and collecting on services -- will almost certainly exceed all other costs of service, as will new-user recruitment. Which is why "free" keeps on winning (until it doesn't).
For the long tail at the bottom, a few bucks is too much.
And if you're just socialising with a small group, ultimately, the next available free-tier service, or Frank or Francine spinning up a Friendica node or Mailman instance is a viable alternative (or if not that than something else).
Keep in mind that FB started as a small exclusive network (a few hundreds of Harvard undergrads), and grew largely through cache and aspirational appeal. (danah boyd has developed this idea at length.) Now, it has at best neutral appeal other than it's where everybody is, which, if they go somewhere else, it instantly loses. And sticking everyone with a high fee will do that.
Also, the costs of revenue -- of simply billing for and collecting on services -- will almost certainly exceed all other costs of service, as will new-user recruitment. Which is why "free" keeps on winning (until it doesn't).