| Much has been debated on whether or not the | | | | Then, of course let's remember the premium services |
| Internet will remain free. It appears it's often a debate | | | | like logging on via your smart-phone. Quickly becoming |
| between those where the glass is always half-full and | | | | a must-have, I see twenty-somethings all over the |
| those where it's always half-empty. | | | | place browsing as if they're at work. Sometimes they |
| Nonetheless, I'm of the mindset that we've been | | | | ARE at work. This trend won't die - so why not |
| getting a great freeview for about ten-plus years now. | | | | monetize it by charging for this premium service? |
| Ultimately, our email, our browsing of sites and now | | | | I'll end with a no-brainer - and include social networking. |
| even social media has been free. This big freebie is | | | | How can Facebook offer to host some folks' entire |
| typically the compliments of display advertising. | | | | lives - their life database of friends and family - and |
| However, as a marketer, I strongly feel the | | | | keep all of it in one organized place for free? This |
| advertising-only revenue model just doesn't cut it | | | | would also fall into the premium category - and |
| anymore. | | | | ultimately might become a paid-service. |
| Without getting into details on the above, I'll stick to my | | | | Now, I know that some might angrily say "I won't pay |
| point that ultimately I can see our e-mail transmission | | | | for the web! Never!" Maybe you won't, but I think you |
| costing us. That's right - you may think twice in the | | | | might. After all, the web as it stands today won't be |
| future before you forward that chain e-mail to 50 of | | | | the web you feel is worth paying for in the future. The |
| your closest friends because it may prove to not be | | | | web will evolve - as will mobile browsing, social |
| worth it. We'll see. | | | | networking, etc. - and if you refuse to pay then you'll |
| Moving on to browsing and visiting sites, ultimately, sites | | | | be out of the loop. |
| need to monetize their web presence, so visiting sites | | | | Facebook has already proven that about 75% of the |
| should be free. However, the amount of time you | | | | nation wants very-much to be "in the loop". So, in my |
| spend online might not be. You may ultimately pay a | | | | humble opinion, all that needs to be done is a little |
| token amount on the time spent online. Those logging-in | | | | additional programming and feature-adding - as well as |
| - pretty much sporadically all throughout the day - may | | | | giving the pricing addition a little time to "breathe" and |
| also think twice should their time spent cost money. | | | | before long we'll all be paying about $20 monthly for all |
| After all, AOL used to give our 20 hours of free | | | | the added features the Internet brings us throughout |
| Internet - and I'm not sure this model should have ever | | | | our day. |
| died. | | | | |