The Demise Of The Free Web

Ning now is requiring that you pay for their services to have a Ning social network, and laid off 40% of their staff.

Recently, I blogged about the pricing structure changing for Sprout to something much above what people that were their high-numbers base could pay (I didn’t like how they handled the transition, but I understood why).

And there’s more cases. Things like Twitter adding ads to search; our data being culled by Facebook and shared around to advertisers and app makers like a kindergarten cold.

If you’re not paying with your dollars, you’re paying dearly with your data. Or at times, both.

The reality is that we’re hitting another bubble in that not everything can be free and the preponderance of the evidence so far says that the future is full of paid services, because although the bits are cheap, people are not.

Supporting free users, and even cheap bits when you’re not receiving enough money for them gets really expensive.. really fast. Match that with the demands of investors who literally want 10x return on the money they’ve put in, and you’ve got a recipe for a change in how the web functions.

Patrick Norton, part of the Revision 3 network and former TechTV host, made a point on a podcast awhile back: there’s going to be a point where these folks need to be real businesses. And I believe we’re at that point.

The days of “build it and they will come” may still be here, but that doesn’t guarantee there’s even enough money for a job for you. The challenge of the web is now “what service can you provide that people are actually willing to pay you for?”

Watch this video – an oldie but goodie from the folks at 37signals. “It’s a revolutionary thought. It’s too simple to work. Have a price!” It’s two years later, they’re hiring, they’re growing. And making profit. With relatively little outside investment.