Everything for free, always: how Facebook ads show us the sad state of the Internet
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Facebook says that they have over 800 million active users, and that “more than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day.” So let’s, for argument’s sake, say that about 500 million users visit Facebook every day. If each of those users paid Facebook $2 per year, the revenue would cover the cost of running the site. Just increase that to $3 per year, or 25c per month, and you suddenly have $1.5B revenue per year (or roughly $500M profit, based on Facebook’s rough estimate of their operating costs). Let’s be clear about this: it’s the cost of one coffee per year.
Yes, of course this is naive – it would never happen. Most people aren’t willing to pay for services or content on the Internet. There is an expectation that everything should be free, and that at the same time, companies should respect our privacy and keep The Brands™ away from our personal information. It’s not a realistic expectation – something’s gotta give if no one is willing to pay for anything. But most people don’t think about it long enough to realize that.
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蠻有趣的一篇文章
主要是在說，現在許多網站服務都是免費的，這些網路服務商為了維持網站運作，只好與廣告商合作，出賣使用者。所以如果網路不是免費的，使用者直接付費給網路服務商，服務商不用靠廣告吃飯，這樣的網路環境是不是反而比較好？
似乎是有點道理。
不過，人性本貪，也不能排除有錢人還想更有錢，搞不好網路服務商即使收了使用者的錢，還是把使用者的資料賣給廣告商，賺更多錢，然後說是「為了提供更好、更長遠的服務」。
