Category Archives: Business

Business, Society, Tech

The Internet Isn’t Free (of Charge)

Credit Card

Credit Card (Photo credit: 401(K) 2012)

We take it for granted today, we sit down, fire up a browser on our computer, tablet or phone, load up our favourite news site, tech blog, webcomic or whatever and for most of these we don’t have to have ever entered any credit card details – unlike buying a magazine or newspaper.

And then many people complain about adverts and install ad blockers without considering one important thing; without the ads the website wouldn’t be there, or you’d have to pay for it yourself.  The other problem with this expectation of no-cost browsing is that sites like Wikipedia which don’t have ads still have to pay for servers, offices and the staff who look after the site despite having an army of volunteers but don’t receive enough donations to keep going.

This blog is provided ostensibly free of charge via WordPress but has adverts (visible to non WordPress.com users) which I have never seen myself but have been reliably informed are there, I couldn’t justify paying for the ad-free version at the moment.  I personally only block adverts on other sites I visit that cause problems with my browser as I appreciate that ads are a necessary part of our free and open internet, just as regular users of donation-based sites aught to donate.

Someone once said there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and for the moment this one’s no exception.

[How Much Would You Pay For a Wikipedia Subscription]

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Business, Marketing, Music, Society

But It’s a Bargain

The volume rocker of the Amazon Kindle 2

The volume rocker of the Amazon Kindle 2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve just noticed on Amazon.co.uk that the top five kindle books at the moment are all priced between £0.20 and £0.99.  Is this a coincidence or is it the same reason I also bought the number one book (besides it being a QI book) – only 20p, I’m having that!

I’m sure they’re all good books but it also shows that almost giving content away can give a book, or music, momentum in the sales charts.  It’s only really been possible thanks to digital media’s lower distribution costs and the benefit is that once people have tried it they’ll tell others about it and maybe they’ll still buy it even if it’s at a higher price later.

The music industry needs to pay attention.  It isn’t devaluing, it’s marketing.

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Business, Marketing, Tech

Who’s Watching?

"Pay attention to me!"

As well as my online home here at WordPress I also regularly add pithy, witty, insightful comments on Gizmodo UK.  Well, when I have time and can think of something witty and insightful before someone else beats me to it.  I remember well the day when I got the email that told me I’d earned enough love and respect of my fellow commenters to get a gold star and the awesome responsibility to reward others and uphold the standards of good commenting that comes with it.

The comments sections of many blogs like Giz UK have a warm community feel to them, many are more, ahem, hostile but generally people are open and honest with their opinions.  The thing is though that you never know who else is reading the comments.

Imagine you’re in the pub with your friends discussing last nights match/Eastenders/curry/pint/copy of GQ when a man in a suit with a clipboard sits next to you and starts making notes, then politely corrects you on a couple of issues he has with your opinions.

Well, this is what some companies are already doing – dedicated staff trawl the internet for any mention of their products in comments and articles, ready to possibly intervene if a discussion starts to become negative.

It’s all part of the market research of course but it can, sometimes, make you wonder who’s looking over your virtual shoulder.

[Gizmodo UK]

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